Editorial Note: This personnel report was written shortly after recruiting Grunt on Korlus. It focuses on Shepard's impressions regarding Kasumi Goto, with particular emphasis on a unique mission.
Personnel Report—Kasumi Goto
When I asked Kelly for her opinion of Kasumi, she stopped and thought about it. "She's an interesting addition to the crew," she said finally. "I can see why she's good at her work... she never reveals anything meaningful about herself. It's all on the surface. It'll be a challenge getting to know who she really is."
I suppose she had a point. While Kasumi was almost as friendly and perky as Kelly in any conversation, she tended to keep to herself. And those conversations usually involved her observations on the crew or past heists rather than any in-depth expose on her personal history. Understandable, of course. Not everybody dishes out their whole story to total strangers.
Still, she was more than willing to talk about her observations on the crew, which included a rumour that one of the Cerberus navigators thought she might be pregnant and the way Ken and Gabby bickered in engineering would make them a cute couple—if they could ever get their heads out of the sand. She was also quite open about past heists and what they meant to her.
"The Normandy runs so quietly," she told me when I first visited her. "I'm not used to hearing my footsteps when I walk."
"I imagine you soon got used to that," I smiled, heading over to some artwork in the corner. Clearly not Cerberus issue, if only because there was no artwork on the Normandy. Mind you, Alliance ships usually don't sport any artwork either.
I got distracted with a rose sitting next to a sculpture of some guy's head—her first museum job, apparently, prompted by a dare from her former partner, Keiji Okuda. Kasumi noticed what I was looking at. "The red rose. That used to be my calling card when I first started out. In place of whatever I took, I left a single red rose."
"Must've made you real popular with the florists," I cracked.
"The ones who got paid andthe ones who got ripped off," Kasumi grinned. "It wasn't until I met Keiji that I realized how silly that was. He had a way of making you understand when you were just being sentimental."
Kasumi must have stolen a lot of paintings over the years, but there were only two that she put up in her room. One consisted of a bunch of circles and swirls, all in warm, rich hues. I'm not one for art, but even I could tell that the arrangement and colours added up to something quite... impressive.
"That's my favourite piece, painted for me by a child prodigy on Elysium. She was the cutest thing."
"I'm sure," I nodded.
"She was kidnapped by slavers who hoped to sell her on Omega. I wasn't about to let that happen. I set up an ID as a buyer's rep to get a special tour of the slaver's vessel. Once aboard, I freed the girl and smuggled her off the ship. She painted that for me on the way home. I'll neverforget how it felt to watch her work."
The other was either a black-and-white pic or a painting of an urban neighbourhood. Very minimalist, mostly just lines and shadows. But there was something elegant in its simplicity.
"That painting has a special place in my heart," Kasumi explained, noting what had drawn my attention. "An art collector hired me to steal it. When I got there, the painting was gone. On the way out, I saw it being hauled off by another thief. I chased him down, tackled him and took the painting.
"That's how Keiji and I first met. We never did turn it in to our employers."
It's a testament to Kasumi's ability to obfuscate one thing by talking your ear off about another that I never got all the details on her proposed heist until the last minute. Don't get me wrong, I knew some things. She was interested in a greybox—some fancy neural implant for storing memories and other forms of data—that belonged to Keiji. I knew that it was currently in the hands of Donovan Hock, a rather ruthless arms dealer. Hock was hiding the greybox at his mansion—yes, that's right, I said mansion—and was trying to crack it so he could uncover some really big secret hidden inside that could threaten Alliance interests.
I also knew that the mansion was planted on a prime piece of real estate on the planet Bekenstein, a nice little rock that had shifted from general manufacturing to the production of high-quality entertainment luxury goods which would be sold to markets via the Citadel. It had earned a name as the "human's Illium," a world where new-money celebutantes and tycoons flaunted their money shamelessly, while the have-nots—everyone else, in other words, were steadfastly ignored.(1) Most people couldn't hack it there for more than a few months. Those that could took every opportunity to pat themselves on the back for being smart enough, skilled enough, tough enough and capable of getting a job anywhere in the galaxy.
The only other thing I knew was that we'd be sneaking into Hock's mansion under an assumed name. For some reason, that involved formal wear, so we'd have to pack our weapons and whatnot separately.
When the time came, I gave Kasumi my hardsuit and most of my weapons, which she placed inside a shelf at the bottom of a really big object wrapped in some sort of packing material. Once we got to Bekenstein, we lugged the object into the shuttle, flew down and rented out an aircar and cargo transport. The mystery object was stuffed in the latter, and we flew off to Hock's mansion in the former, with me still none the wiser as to this big heist Kasumi had planned.
"You clean up well, Mr. Solomon Gunn," Kasumi told me pleasantly. "Aside from the scars. Hock won't know what hit him."
I should explain that. Once I found out that we would be sneaking in under a legend, I'd taken the liberty of dyeing my hair and adding some scars. (2) I didn't want Hock tracing my alias, whatever it was, back to one Commander Shepard. Seeing how this alternate identity could come in handy in the future, and I didn't necessarily want TIMmy to be aware of it, I added the dye job and the scars after I left the Normandy. That was a bit tricky, but it was nothing a pack of hair dye, a shower and a few gadgets loaned from sickbay and the tech lab couldn't accomplish. "I assume Solomon Gunn is my cover," I said.
"You run a small but talented band of mercs out in the Terminus Systems," she confirmed. "Precisely the type of person Hock respects.
"I took the liberty of giving you a reputation," she added, pulling up a mock resume of 'my' accomplishments. All of them required a high degree of competence, technical expertise and tactical savvy—but none of them were so high profile that Hock or anyone would wonder why he'd never seen or heard of me before.
"Nice," I approved. "Credit records, papers, witnesses..."
"Article in Badass Weekly," she added. "Just don't start talking business with him and you'll be fine."
"I take it I'm wearing this getup for a reason," I said.
"Well you'd look really out of place at a society party in armour, don't you think?" Kasumi smirked. She looked me over, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten to zip up or something. "You look great," she added. "You should wear this stuff more often."
"Only if I have to," I shuddered. "I tend to associate formal wear with parades and political functions that drag on and on and on." Probably because Alliance formal wear tended to be over-starched and stiff as hell. The tuxedo that Kasumi had acquired, on the other hand, was made of smooth, satiny silk that practically flowedwith my movements. I was seriously starting to think I'd gotten into the wrong profession.
Speaking of which, it was time to start getting some details on this heist, especially since we were almost there. "Of course, now I'll associate it with dubiously legal activities," I said. "Which reminds me: now's probably a good time to fill me in on the details."
"You have been waiting patiently," Kasumi acknowledged. She tapped a command on her omni-tool, leaned over and activated the aircar controls, pulling up a bunch of pics and schematics from her omni-tool. "Our friend Hock is throwing a party for his closest friends. A couple dozen of the worst liars, cheaters and mass murderers you'll ever want to meet, all bringing gifts as a tribute to the man himself."
"And our tribute is..." I prompted.
"A lovely statue of your old friend Saren, rendered with loving detail and filled to the brim with our weapons and armour."
Ah. No wonder it was so heavy.
"I think we missed one," I frowned, tilting my head towards the pistol at my hip.
"No, you can keep your pistol," Kasumi shook her head, "as long as it's concealed. They won't hassle you over a sidearm."
"If you say so."
"Once inside, we'll make our way to Hock's vault door, somewhere in the back of the ballroom," she continued. "Then we case the security and start peeling away the layers. The statue should be there, waiting for you to crack it open and arm up. After that, we just waltz into the vault and take back Keiji's greybox.
"And I'll finally get a chance to say goodbye."
She said that last sentence almost in a whisper. I glanced over at her. It was hard to see the look on her face, as it was shrouded by that hood she seemed to wear all the time, but her body posture spoke volumes. "You've worked really hard on this," I said softly. "Keiji must have meant a lot to you."
Kasumi shot a quick look at me. "Was I that obvious?"
I shrugged.
"Keiji's greybox holds a lot of priceless, personal memories," she admitted. "It's all that remains of who he was. But the secret he discovered is dangerous. I wouldn't bring you here if it wasn't."
Dangerous. Great. So naturally only two of us were going in on this merry caper. (3) "This oughta be interesting," I sighed.
"That's what I'm going for," my partner-in-crime chirped.
We were about a minute out from the mansion. Rather than spend it in silence, I turned on some old music to put us in the mood:
"Non! Rien de rien!
Non! Je ne regrette rien!
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait
Ni le mal tout ça m'est bien égal!
"Non! Rien de rien!
Non! Je ne regrette rien!
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé!" (4)
An automated signal interrupted the song at that point, directing me to a parking lot just outside the front entrance. As the two of us got out, I saw the statue of Saren being lowered off the transport.
I looked at Kasumi. She looked back at me, a glint of excitement visible beneath her hood. "After you, Mr. Gunn."
The two of us started walking towards the entrance. We were just about to walk up the stairs when someone called out "Just one moment, sir."
Turning around, we saw a guard near our 'gift.' Judging by the logos on his hardsuit, he was an Eclipse merc. Unlike most Eclipse mercs, though, his armour was all black with white highlighting, as opposed to the usual yellow and black pattern. I later learned that Hock had made a long-standing arrangement with Eclipse to hire out a detachment of mercs for security. Those mercs specifically assigned to house security were given customized uniforms, which he paid for out of his own pocket.
At the moment, though, I was trying not to get antsy. I mean, I'd just found out the details on what I'd gotten myself into, and things were going south before it even started. "Everything all right?" I asked, forcing a casual note into my voice.
"There seems to be an issue with the statue," the merc said politely, consulting his omni-tool.
I saw a dark-haired man in a very expensive white suit trot down the stairs. The merc must've alerted him. "Is there a problem here," he asked.
"No, Mr. Hock," the merc assured him. "Just doing a scan." He started scanning the statue slowly. To pass the time, Hock turned to me. "I don't believe we've met," he said. I absently noted the exotic accent he had. Afrikaans, if I wasn't mistaken. "Donovan Hock."
"I've heard a lot about you," I smiled, extending a hand. "Solomon Gunn."
He refused to shake my hand, keeping his clasped behind his back. His posture said "I'm too good to shake hands with the likes of you." I'll admit, though, that his eyes held a lot more respect. "You've been very busy lately, if the extranet is to be believed."
Guess the paperwork for my little legend passed muster. "For the most part, it's accurate," I shrugged. "Though they tend to add a few zeroes to the number of bad guys that piss me off or buildings that get blown up."
"Typical," he sniffed. "Anything to please the masses."
"Sir," the merc interrupted, "the scanners aren't picking anything up. At all. I can't get any readings on this statue one way or the other."
Hock appraised the statue with a keen eye, like a businessman estimating the worth of a piece of art. "I don't think our guests would come all the way here from Ilium just to cause trouble," he decided. "Do you?"
"Better not," I broke in, injecting a sour note into my voice. "I had enough trouble getting it offIllium. Damn asari wanna tax everything."
The merc gave me a polite smile to me, nodded his assent to Hock like the good little lapdog he was and wrapped up his scan without further ado. Hock turned back to me. "You may pass through, Mr. Gunn, with my apologies."
One bullet dodged.
"But I will ask your companion to remain outside. You understand, I hope."
And there's the catch. "Any particular reason why my friend has to stand outside?" I asked.
"I don't like the look of your 'friend,' so she stays outside," he replied, looking down at her figuratively and literally—she was quite petite, after all. "Simple as that."
"No problem. Your house, your rules," I nodded, cursing to myself.
"Enjoy the party," Hock said before returning inside. Kasumi and I stepped to the side while the mercs started moving the statue. "Well, that went well," I said dryly.
"Definitely not what I expected," she sighed.
"Any idea why he'd send you away?" I asked. "Maybe he recognized you from one of your earlier jobs?"
"No, we've never seen each other in person," she said. "And no one knows what I look like."
"So he's just being an ass?"
"Or watching his ass," Kasumi shrugged. "I can't blame him."
Yet another plan that didn't survive first contact with the enemy. I really shouldn't be surprised. "So now what do we do?"
"We go on with the plan," Kasumi shrugged. "You'll just have to do all the talking. I'll stay out of sight and stick with you the best I can."
I looked over my shoulder. No one was looking at us. I tilted my head towards the stairs and headed for the door, Kasumi close on my heels. She was quite careful about the path she took to follow me, no doubt avoiding any sensors or cameras. As I started climbing the stairs, she engaged her cloak and vanished. Her disembodied voice whispered in my ear: "We'll keep radio contact in case something goes wrong."
Something else, I silently amended.
Judging from the ballroom at the front door, Hock's mansion was veryfancy. The walls and floors were made of some kind of earth-toned natural stone tiling, with muted lights embedded into the columns. Large expensive vases lined the entrance hallway before opening up into the main ballroom. Up ahead, I could see staircases winding up to the second story on each side of the room. They were situated in just the right position to frame a small pool, an impressive sculpture of some kind and floor-to-ceiling windows that displayed a breathtaking sunny afternoon.
"We need to find the vault door and case the security." Kasumi's voice said over the comm-piece embedded in my ear, interrupting my reconnaissance. "We'll figure out the next step then."
I acknowledged her hint by moving into the mansion. A small band was playing some kind of instrumental melody, with hints of classical music, which added to the quiet murmur of conversations from various thugs and ne'er-do-wells dressed up to the nines. It almost looked like one of those boring official shindigs I occasionally got dragged into.
"How did you ever contain that situation on Aleph?" a well-dressed man was asking an equally elegant woman.
"Oh that? A quick application of force, a little pressure, and bam! Done," she replied airily.
"Thank goodness. I thought that rabble would dog you for years." Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely like one of those boring official shindigs.
As I walked along, I noted that the walls near each staircase were filled with large portraits and landscapes, each one surrounded by ornate frames. Nothing tacky, mind you. But certainly expensive enough to say "I cost a fortune, but if you want to know the exact numbers, you clearly can't afford them."
My ears suddenly pricked as I heard my name. I concentrated on that conversation, while making sure I wasn't slowing down or staring. It was coming from a party over on my left. "Some say Commander Shepard is still alive," a woman sniffed. "Really!"
"Oh please," one of the men scoffed. "It's wishful thinking at best!"
Gee, thanks.
After a bit more moseying about, I found some stairs and snuck down. As I crept down the steps, I heard some guy asking his friend for his take on 'that guy Archangel.' "I hear he's dead," his companion said shortly. "Or gone, or something. Good riddance, I say."
Kasumi decloaked halfway along the corridor. I moved to join her. As soon as I'd caught up with her, she walked towards the wall. A panel shimmered away in front of her, revealing a room that had been disguised by the holographic projection.
"Very nice," Kasumi noted. "There's more here than I expected."
I didn't respond at first. I was too busy staring at the statue of Saren. It stared back at me. I remembered all the fun I had chasing him down. And the nice twist when he got possessed and transformed by Sovereign via all his Reaper implants. Like the ones in my body.
All right. Enough with the déjà vu. I shook my head and looked around.
Aside from the statue, the room was mostly blank. That quickly drew my attention to the various panels and displays embedded in the wall on either side of an elevator door, which in turn was protected by a glowing orange grid. "Well?" I asked.
"Kinetic barrier. Password protected voice lock. DNA scanner—looks like an EX-700 series," Kasumi identified. "Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable."
"This going to be a problem?"
"Please," she laughed. "Remember who you're talking to."
"Right," I nodded. "So what's the plan?"
"The barrier can be bypassed easily. We just have to cut the power. Never fails—if we can find it. We'll need to get a voice sample for the voice lock—you'll have to go chat up Hock for that. We'll need a password, too. DNA? Child's play. We should find plenty of DNA samples in Hock's private quarters.
"Keiji could get through a system like this in his sleep," she said softly. "And I'm better. Let's get to it."
We quickly left, with Kasumi activating her cloak again. Not for the first time, I marvelled at how her cloak could last more or less indefinitely, while mine couldn't go for more than six seconds or so without cutting out. Of course, she needed a long-lasting cloak in her line of work more than I did.
The corridor had another set of stairs leading up on the far end, so that's where we went. I was almost there when I noticed a access panel on the floor. Lifting it up, I saw a bunch of power cables.
Kasumi was one step ahead of me. "Power cables. At least one of them connects to the barrier protecting the vault. I'll set your omni-tool to scan for electromagnetic fields."
I heard a barely audible buzz as she uploaded the parameters and activated my omni-tool. Very nice, though I'd have to remember to ask her how she did that. Mostly so I could prevent anyone else from pulling that trick again in the future.
After a few minutes, the buzz turned into a sharp ticking. It was coming from a small statuette on a bookshelf embedded in one of the alcoves. I tried to lift it, but it was stuck, so I resorted to tugging. To my surprise, the statuette pivoted forward like a lever. A stack of books receded into a hidden cavity, revealing a small control panel.
"One sec." Kasumi decloaked and started bypassing it. I looked behind her, but no one else was there. Too busy enjoying the champagne and appetizers, I'm sure. I heard a sharp sizzle and crack, the kind I normally heard when an EMP shorted out some poor sap's shields. Looking back, I saw a small puff of smoke rise from the control panel. "That should take care of the barrier," Kasumi said with satisfaction before cloaking again.
Next we, or I, had to chat with Hock.
"There he is," Kasumi whispered. Looking around, I saw him chatting with someone near the sculpture. "All you need to do is keep him talking long enough for me to get a voiceprint. Pull out the charm on this one, Shep. Whenever you're ready."
I gave a subtle nod and headed towards Hock. He was just wrapping up his conversation when I arrived, and turned to me.
"Mr. Gunn," he greeted me. "I hope you're having a good time."
"I am, thank you," I smiled politely. "You have an incredible place."
"Nothing less than I deserve after all my hard work, not to mention the successes from my numerous and brilliant business ventures," Hock preened. "That scene at the door hasn't soured your evening, I hope," he added, belatedly remembering his role as the dutiful host.
"Not at all," I laughed. "I understand the security, but I'm surprised that anyone would dare try to break into Donovan Hock's home."
As I'd guessed, the flattery paid off. Hock puffed up like a peacock before replying. "In our line of work, we attract a certain element. Few understand the pains we take to keep the barbarians at bay. All people want these days are comfort, entertainment and love. That's all they ever see—their silly little dreams and fantasies. They don't see that the galaxy is fragile.
"But what could you expect from the masses? They only have to worry about simple luxuries. Why? Because people like me—and you—are doing the terrible things that keep the galaxy spinning."
While Hock had a quiet voice, he certainly didn't make any effort to keep his conversation private, the way he was gesturing and posturing. By this point, a lot of people had stopped talking and were paying attention to him. Hock noticed this as well.
"This party is for us," he said, raising his voice and spreading his arms expansively. "The cleaners. The realists. The support structure for the galaxy's gleeful delusions of peace. May there always be a market for the things we do!"
Everyone dutifully started applauding, including me of course. Hock gave a short bow here and there, as if acknowledging his monologue was the highlight of some theatre performance. Kasumi gave a chuckle that I barely caught over all the clapping.
"I said get him talking, and you got him talking," she said. "We've got enough of a voice sample. Let him go. Once we find that password, we can get past the voice scanner."
I had a good idea where we could find the password too. So I said my goodbyes to Hock and resumed my wandering, gradually making my way towards a locked door I saw earlier. There a couple... well, civvies doesn't seem quite right, does it? Anyways, there were a few men and women nearby, but they were busy debating whether the Blue Suns or the Eclipse were the better merc group. Sounded like quite the discussion, judging from all the bantering and gesturing. I paused for a moment, both to make sure they were distracted and to wait for Kasumi to catch up.
"Looks like that door leads to a security room," Kasumi said. "I got the lock." The door hissed open a second later and I slipped inside.
The security room was at the end of a small corridor. Kasumi decloaked outside the security room door and tapped her omni-tool. "Two guards," she whispered, gesturing at the room. "Ready when you are."
I nodded, pulled out my pistol with one hand and started to bypass the lock with the other. As soon as I was done, I took a step back, looked at Kasumi and lifted three fingers. She pulled out her own sidearm and got into position. I counted down, folding my fingers until I formed a fist, then made a yanking motion. On cue, Kasumi opened the door and we burst inside.
"You can't be back here," one of the guards cried out, just before Kasumi shorted out his shields. I replied with a burst of plasma and took cover behind a desk while he flailed about. A few seconds later, he collapsed to the floor. His partner carefully sent a few rounds of fire at Kasumi, just enough to make her stay back. She obliged until her omni-tool was ready and then zapped his shields too. I rose up, lifting my pistol. He pointed his assault rifle at me. Instinctively, I made the usual eye motions to activate my cloak, forgetting that I didn't have a HUD with eye-motion tracking tech.
Much to my surprise, I felt as much as saw a shimmering field sweep over me. A second later, the remaining merc took a step back and looked around in confusion. Either he'd suddenly gone blind or I had just cloaked. But I wasn't wearing my hardsuit...
...unless the cloaking technology was built into my bodyinstead of my armour. Holy shit!
Deciding not to look gift horses in the mouth, I sent a shot through his eye. A second later, I decloaked again. Wow. Okay. This was definitely unexpected.
I turned to Kasumi who was looking as shocked as I must have been. "Um... surprise?" I tried. This development actually explained a few things. There were already way too many implants stuffed inside my innards as it was. Chances are there probably wasn't room for a battery big enough to keep the cloak going indefinitely.
Kasumi took pity on my confusion and quickly changed the topic. "I have an idea. Look around, see what you can find."
She went to the corner and started rummaging. I turned my attention to the desk. Computer console, a monitor set to the KTV channel—judging from the logo and the krogan blasting away—a bunch of monitors and a datapad. Lifting up the datapad, I skimmed the contents. Some guy named Samuels complaining to another guy—Reems— about all the passwords they had to remember, including "PERUGGIA." The last one was a mouthful, apparently, but it didn't matter since it was for the voice lock, so only Hock would have to work his mouth around it. Oh, and did Samuels want to sneak away and knock back a few beers?
I chuckled at that last one. Kasumi overheard me. "Shep? Got something?"
"The password is 'Peruggia,'" I told her.
"Huh. Vincenzo Peruggia was the man who stole the Mona Lisa," she said. "Nice."
"How about you?" I asked. "You said you had an idea."
"Yeah, I tapped into their communications," she nodded. "Maybe it'll come in handy. I also downloaded the schematics for this place." She started tapping at her omni-tool. "Now... I just take the voice sample we got from Hock and... got it! Now we can crack that voice scanner."
"Two down," I grinned. "All we have to do is get some of Hock's DNA—preferably not from his own mouth—and we're set. Any idea where his quarters are?"
"Downstairs. There's a door leading there from the ballroom. Outside on the left."
"The door with the guard outside?"
"Yep."
Crud. "Any other ways in?"
"We could vault over the balcony on the far end of the room, over on the right," she shrugged. "But there are more guards there."
Just once, I'd like to complete a mission without shooting my way out. "Let's go back outside and scout around," I decided. "There must be a better way in."
It took about ten minutes of wandering, but we eventually found that way. One of the mercs had been sloppy enough to leave a datapad lying around. Most of the data on it was encrypted or deleted, but there was one message in the e-mail software inbox:
Pvt. Reems:
No way we can sneak out of that party. The place is locked down tight, and Security Chief Roe's in charge. No Way Roe would let that get past her.
I'd rather stand around bored on guard duty than risk her wrath. Sorry.
—Samuels
Kasumi must've been reading over my shoulder. "Chief Roe, huh? She sounds like a hard-ass."
"Uh, huh," I murmured. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Oh yeah. You go ahead. I'll get into position."
I headed for the door that Kasumi said led into Hock's private quarters, the one with the goon standing outside.
"Mr. Hock's private rooms are off-limits to guests without security clearance," he said.
"I have clearance to go in," I lied.
The merc got right up in my face and practically snarled at me. "On whose authority?"
"I have authorization from Chief Roe."
"Okay, one sec." The merc lifted his omni-tool to his mouth. "Chief Roe?"
A second later, 'Chief Roe' responded, thanks to Kasumi and the backdoor route she'd used to hack her way into the merc's comm network. "What?"
The merc actually jumped. "Um... Samuels here, ma'am. Have you given access authorization to Mr. Hock's private rooms?"
"They have access, Samuels," she said in an irritated voice. "Now stop bothering me."
"Got it, sir. Uh, I mean, ma'am. Sorry to bother you, ma'am." He looked at me. "Okay. You're clear to go in. Enjoy the party."
I smiled sympathetically and went along a tastefully-furnished corridor, down a flight of stairs and traversed another corridor to Hock's bedroom. Kasumi met me there, decloaking outside the entrance. "Okay, we'll split up once we get in. Look for anything we can get usable DNA from. Just make it quick and quiet."
Hock didn't have the enormous suite that I was expecting, but his room was at least twice the size of my quarters—which is pretty damn big. (5)
I went over to the nearest couch first. What I found made me laugh.
"Found a sample?" Kasumi asked.
"No. A credit chit," I explained.
"You're rich, Shepard. Now you can retire and live a life of luxury," she smirked, managing to joke despite the importance of this particular job.
"Maybe this'll yield more luck," I said, noting a datapad on a desk by the wall.
"We can probably get Hock's DNA off the datapad," Kasumi agreed. She was scanning a DNA sample off a wineglass. "What does it say?"
"Basic summary of previous attempts to crack Keiji's greybox," I replied, scanning its contents. "Looks like Hock's experts tried various decryption algorithms based on 4800 different languages and Keiji's family history. Now he's speculating that the key may be a memory or smell or something, and that alternate measures may be required. Hock seems to have obsessed over it."
I tried a bunch of papers that provided more details on Hock's efforts to access the greybox's secrets, but there was no DNA there. So I moved on to a set of antique swords hanging in a display case. "How're you doing, Kasumi?" I asked.
"Got some more DNA off another couch, but I couldn't find anything on his pillows, bed sheets or ashtray," she reported. "Guess the cleaners must be really thorough. She looked up and saw where I was. "The housekeepers wouldn't dare touch treasures like that. We can get some skin cells from the dust."
After a few more minutes, we got together and combined our scans into one composite DNA signature. "That should do it," Kasumi nodded. "Let's get out of here."
"Wait," I protested. "What about that?"
She followed my gaze, then looked back at me. "It's a plant."
Stifling the urge to quibble about whether Hock had a green thumb, and whether we could get any viable DNA samples that weren't contaminated with plant DNA, we hurried back to the vault door. The barrier was already down, thanks to our earlier sabotage. One security layer down...
The speed at which Kasumi darted towards the voice identification system betrayed her eagerness to get into the vault.
"Password required."
"Peruggia," Hock's voice boomed from Kasumi's omni-tool.
"Voice ID accepted. Welcome, Mr. Hock."
I got to the DNA scanner a second later. Technically, my role would be much trickier. Normally you'd slap your thumb or finger or something on the scanner, let it take a sample of DNA and compare the resulting signature stored in its 'authorized list,' and wait for the 'all-clear.' What I was trying to do was bypass the sampling step, upload my composite DNA signature to the system, skip straight to the DNA comparison step and hope the mish-mash of samples we'd obtained wasn't too badly degraded to get a match.
"DNA identification confirmed. Welcome, Mr. Hock."
Without further ado, the elevator doors to the vault slid open. To be honest, I couldn't believe it worked. I waited for a moment to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Kasumi must have mistaken my hesitation for an exaggerated sense of modesty.
"I'll check for security cams. Go ahead and get dressed," she laughed.
I thought about correcting her, then dismissed that idea. It wasn't that important.
Kasumi did find some security cams, as it turned out, so she hacked them and set up a loop that overwrote about an hour of footage. Specifically, the hour that recorded our entrance during our initial reconnaissance and our return with all the goodies we needed to crack the vault security system. Meanwhile, I'd popped open the hidden shelf in the Saren statue—after taking another minute to stare at Saren's creepy visage—and started suiting up.
While Kasumi had taken her sweet time in giving me the details, she had dropped the hint that I'd be sneaking around. Somehow, an Alliance special forces guy who had withstood slaver attacks on Elysium, become the first human Spectre, and saved the collective asses of TPTB didn't strike me as being the kind of fellow who could keep a low profile. So, just in case Kasumi had me going in as someone else, I had chosen the modified Eclipse hardsuit I'd swiped a while back. (6) Brand-spanking new, and had nothing that could be traced back to Shepard—either as the Alliance and Citadel hero or the Cerberus cybernetic zombie. By the time I'd finished patting myself on the back for my foresight, put on my hardsuit, powered it up and did a system check, Kasumi had finished covering our tracks. So we grabbed our weapons, made sure they were loaded and headed for the elevator.
It's been ages since I've been to any kind of museum, particularly an art museum. From what I dimly remember, Hock's private vault was roughly the size of two average-sized galleries put together. Pieces of art—mostly sculptures—were carefully laid out throughout the vault at standard intervals.
"So this is Hock's vault," Kasumi admired. "Very nice."
"Is that what I think it is," I asked, pointing at one of the sculptures.
Kasumi followed my finger. Her eyes widened in shock. "How did Hock get Lady Liberty's head?"
I shrugged. "Either someone smuggled it off Earth and sold it to someone, who sold it to someone, who sold it to someone, and so on and so on until Hock got his hands on it..." (7)
"Or?"
"Or we took one too many trips through a mass relay and wound up in an alternate universe."
"Damn you, Hock!" Kasumi cried out on cue. (8)
Then she got down to business and uploaded a program to my omni-tool. "Let's split up and search for the greybox," she said. "This program will home in on it. It can't be far."
While Kasumi trotted towards the centre aisle, I checked out the displays along the wall. There were lots of stuff there. Michelangelo's David. A sculpture of a rachni queen—that brought back memories, believe me. A statue of some krogan.
"Oh my god! There it is!"
I joined Kasumi by one of the displays in the centre aisle, close to Lady Liberty's head. The greybox was sitting there, next to a pair of submachine guns. The guns looked like they were in excellent condition, which wasn't surprising given that this was part of Hock's private art collection. Then I took a closer look.
Kasumi jerked her head up from the greybox when she heard me whistle. In response to her questioning gaze, I nodded at the guns. "Those guns are really convincing props," I said. "They actually look like Kassa Locusts!" I said.
She bent over and scrutinized the weapons. "No..." she said after a minute. Standing up, she stared at me and pointed to one of them. "It's real. It's theKassa Locust. Look at the serial number."
I peered over and read the serial number. Kasumi was right. I was staring at an original Kassa Locust. The gun that killed two presidents.
I carefully picked it up, half afraid that it would shatter in my hands. I needn't have worried—this baby was built to last. The old adage about things not being made like they used to definitely applied in this case. And this weapon was equal—if not better—than most of the submachine guns floating around the galaxy today. "Gorgeous," I admired.
"Looks like it comes with a copy," I said, picking it up and handing it to Kasumi.
"A working copy," she added. "I'm sure Hock won't mind if we 'borrowed' these." She admired it herself for a moment before turning her attention to the greybox. With a wave of her omni-tool, she brought up a holographic display of the greybox's lock. Biting her lip, she began decrypting it. While she was busy tapping holographic buttons, I moved to the door at the far end of the room.
"Don't bother, Ms. Goto," a voice boomed out. "It's codelocked."
I whirled back just in time to see Hock's disembodied head appear in front of us, magnified so his head filled the room. Sort of like his ego, come to think of it.
"I had a feeling that was you at the door," Hock said. "I knew if it was really you, you'd get through anyway."
"You know me," Kasumi smiled coldly. "I don't like to disappoint."
"I need what's in that greybox, Kasumi. You know I'm willing to kill you for it. I'll admit your skills are impressive. You conned that fool Gunn into being your escort long enough to get you to my mansion."
Obviously he didn't realize we were actually partners in crime. And whatever vid-cams he had in here must've been zoomed in on Kasumi, otherwise he would have realized the 'fool' was more than just an 'escort.'
"You cracked my security like it was never there. And you got into my vault like I'd left it open. But you're still going to die, screaming, just like your old friend."
As Hock babbled away, I was attaching a disruptor mod to my new Locust submachine gun. Tricky little devil. Damn thing wouldn't attach. My finger braced itself against the trigger guard as I struggled with the mod. A sudden shattering sound rang out.
"Nooooo!"
My eyes darted from my Locust to the remains of what was once a very ornate vase. Oops.
Kasumi quickly improvised. "Hand slipped," she said innocently.
Hock scowled.
"Do I have your attention?"
Before Hock could reply, Kasumi's omni-tool beeped. Good—her programs must've broken through the codelock. Now all we had to do was get out.
Hock must've realized that as well. "Kill her!" he ordered, before his head vanished.
A squad of mercs charged into the vault a second later. They were wearing the yellow and black pattern which was more typical of Eclipse mercs. Before they could find cover, I cloaked and sniped one of them. Kasumi launched an EMP that knocked out the shields for two of the mercs. As soon as I had a clear shot, I fired off some plasma fire.
"Where'd he come from," one of the mercs squawked, before tossing a grenade my way. I immediately ducked behind cover and waited for it to explode in a shower of shrapnel. Instead, it sent out a burst of blinding light and a high-pitched squeal. Some kind of flashbang grenade. (9) Made it real hard to see where everyone was. The effects only lasted a few seconds, but that was long enough for the mercs to find cover.
Checking my HUD, I noticed that most of the mercs were on my side. Naturally. I signalled for Kasumi to lay down some cover fire while I took out the lone merc on Kasumi's side with my sniper rifle. His shields were already shot, so I didn't even have to cloak. Instead, I generated some more plasma and lit up another merc.
To my surprise, the merc leader—who I later learned was the infamous Chief Roe—spat a ball of plasma at me. Now my shields are pretty good at withstanding the kinetic impact of various weapons, but it wasn't exactly optimized to handle high-temperature plasma, so it quickly shorted out. By the time I dove back under cover, I had taken quite a few hits.
It was quickly becoming apparent that these Eclipse mercs would be a bit more difficult to take down. Especially since I only had one other member on my squad. Time to switch things up a bit.
I grabbed my submachine gun, waited until my shields recharged and cloaked. Standing up, I started strafing the mercs. Nothing lethal. Just enough fire to knock out as many shields as I could. Kasumi focused her EMP on Chief Roe, but was only able to bring her shields down by a third. As befitting a leader, her rig was quite a sight better. Even had some extra armour plating welded on, I saw. As my cloak collapsed, I stayed upright a moment longer to deal a bit more damage.
That wound up being a bit of a mistake. While I was firing, and the mercs were firing back, Chief Roe launched something from her omni-tool. Some piece of tech that hovered above the ground and generated some kind of red-coloured holographic shell, with some kinetic barriers thrown in.
"Kasumi," I called out. "Red thing: what is that?"
"Combat drone."
You could spit out combat drones from your omni-tool now? I really had to start catching up on all those tactical reports Cerberus had compiled for me. "What can they do?"
"Low-grade concussive pulse that can knock out shields," Kasumi replied. The drone demonstrated that weapon a second later, shorting out my shields and knocking me back. Staggering, I rose to a semi-standing position as I tried to regain my balance.
Big mistake. I took way too much fire while I was out of cover. I glimpsed the drone's red shell flickering away and its physical chassis dropping to the ground. Guess the power source burned out its innards pretty darn quickly. Small comfort for me, though. By the time I ducked back down, my sight was getting hazy, my heart was pounding away and I could swear I was tasting blood in my mouth. Thankfully, my hardsuit's medical systems engaged a minute later, injecting medi-gel to get me back on my feet. Figuratively, of course—I wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
I got up to fire another plasma round, only to have my shields zapped by yet another drone. What they lacked in durability they made up for in sheer volume. Before I dove for cover once more, I set another merc on fire.
By that point, it was just us and Chief Roe, merrily exchanging plasma fire, combat drones and gunfire at us. Well, me at least. She seemed to peg me as the greater threat for some reason. Kasumi took advantage of her distraction to take down the last of her shields. I was quick to follow up with some plasma fire to peel off some of her armour. It took some more fire to burn through her armour and turn her into a crispy-fried merc, but you know what they say about being slow and steady.
With a sigh of relief, I got up and started collecting thermal clips to replace the ones I'd used up. Meanwhile, Kasumi consulted her omni-tool. "Checking blueprints..." she said when I looked at her. "There's a landing pad to the east of here."
"Joker," I said urgently, "bring the shuttle in. Now!
While Joker confirmed our order and remotely powered up the shuttle, Kasumi and I left Hock's art gallery and headed for the extraction point. We entered some kind of room, with pipes running along the ceiling and various barrels and crates scattered everywhere.
I felt a sudden tingling at the back of my neck. Following my instincts, I motioned for Kasumi to take cover. We had just settled in behind a bunch of barrels when a set of doors at the far end opened up and revealed two things. First—we were in some kind of underground tunnel system, large enough to move a lot of cargo. Probably how Hock smuggled his artwork into his private sanctum.
Second—another bunch of mercs were heading our way, guns blazing. They didn't seem fazed by the fact that Kasumi was accompanied by a fellow Eclipse merc, if the bullets were any indication. Guess the Eclipse hardsuit didn't help after all. Still, we took them down quickly enough.
As the last merc fell, though, we saw someone blindly firing in our general direction. Or something, based on all the clanking we suddenly heard.
Aw, crap.
As if my worst fears needed confirming, a YMIR-class heavy mech stomped into view. I waited for Kasumi to start sending EMPs at it.
Instead, she tersely told me "Going silent," and cloaked.
"What the..." I cloaked myself and fired a sniper round at the mech's head. Did a little bit of damage, but nothing amazing. A few seconds later, Kasumi decloaked and sent a surge of energy into the mech's shields. The mech turned around and aimed at her.
Kasumi cloaked before the mech had a chance to fire and retreated to my position. When her cloak dropped, I glared at her. "Let's stay as far away from the mech as possible, okay? We'll whittle it down bit by bit."
At least she had the decency to look a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Shep. Just wanted to see if I could find a weak point. Didn't find one, though. Only thing I got out of it was one heck of—"
She broke off as the YMIR fired a rocket over our heads. "—one heck of an adrenaline rush and the chance to damage its shields a bit," she finished.
We waited until Kasumi's omni-tool had built up enough of a charge. On the count of three, we popped up. Kasumi launched an EMP while I unleashed a couple bursts of weapons fire at its head. The good news was that we reduced its shields to a mere fraction.
The bad news was that Kasumi took several hits and dropped like a rock.
My cloak, probably the only thing that saved me from meeting Kasumi's fate, chose that moment to shut down. I zapped the last of its shields before ducking down and checking on Kasumi. Vitals looked good, from what I could tell. Shields took the worst of it. But there was enough kinetic energy remaining from the YMIR's weapons to knock her out.
At least its shields were down. All I needed were six rounds of plasma fire and two headshots with the sniper rifle and the mech blew up in a spectacular explosion.
You'd think that that would be it. But no, there just had to be three or four more Eclipse mercs remaining. One of them was a biotic, judging from the glowing energy field surrounding him. He was the first one I fired the rest of my thermal clip at before setting him on fire.
Ducking behind a column, I ejected my thermal clip and popped in a new one. Then I took a deep breath and peeked back out. The mercs were scrambling to find any cover, especially cover that could give them a good vantage point to fire at me. Unfortunately for them, I was done being stingy with my clips. Or frugal. Frugal sounds better. Point is, now that there was no one else looking out for my wellbeing, I was prepared to use up as many thermal clips as it took to take out their shields and barbeque them one by one.
Just as I dropped the last one, Hock called out over some sort of loudspeaker. "They're out of the vault. Seal them in."
A moment later, a set of shutters slammed down in front of me.
"Damn it!" Kasumi cried out in frustration. She had evidently regained consciousness while I was busy playing hide-and-seek. "We'll have to find another way out."
"Any ideas?" I asked, pointing at an access hatch off to the side.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do," she said, scooping a thermal clip and handing it to me. "One that'll avoid a good number of Hock's goons."
"I already like this plan," I replied, pocketing the clip.
"I hate this plan," I grumbled.
Kasumi's brilliant plan, as it turned out, made use of the schematics she'd downloaded earlier. Specifically, the ventilation system. It was only a matter of seconds before she found the closest vent and opened it. "After you," she said politely.
"Ladies first," I frowned.
"Oh no, I insist," Kasumi urged. "Besides, if we ran into any trouble, you're better equipped to handle it."
"You mean I can soak up more bullets."
"Yeah, that too," Kasumi smirked.
I glared at her.
She tilted her head towards the vent. "Tick, tock, Shep."
Stifling a grumble, I got to my hands and knees and squeezed my way into the vent. A soft pitter-patter told me that Kasumi was close on my heels. We crawled for what seemed like forever through a corridor and past a room that housed no less than eight YMIR mechs. Almost gave us a heart attack before we realized they were powered down. In hindsight, the fact that they were squatting on shelves in two rows of four might have given us a clue.
The LOKI mechs in the adjoining cargo bay however, were very much active. As were the mercs. Peering through the vent, I noted all the crates and barrels and...
...and the Mako.
Boy, seeing that old warhorse sure brought back memories. Memories of driving across planet after planet—many of which looked remarkably similar—prospecting for resources, shooting mercs and geth... and giving my squadmates a lot of bruises and heart attacks as I insisted on driving over every large boulder and off of any cliffs that were between me and whatever I was driving towards.
Come to think of it, maybe that was why Garrus now spent all his time in the gunnery instead of down in the garage. Must've figured that life was too short to waste repairing vehicles, when I'd probably break them over and over again.
Then I got an idea. "Kasumi? See the Mako down there?"
"Yep."
"What is its status?"
"According to the records, you won't be able to drive it anywhere," Kasumi replied with a smile, catching on to my plan, "but the guns work just fine."
"Cover me," I grinned. "My turn to go silent."
I activated my cloak, eased my way out of the vent and scooted over to the Mako. For once, the universe was on my side—someone had been running diagnostics on it and it was already powered up.
Looking around, I saw a large gas tank dead ahead. So that's what I fired at. Figured the explosion would make a nice distraction.
The explosion wound up punching a hole in the wall and sending tons of shrapnel, debris and superheated fuel flying around. More than enough to take out all the mercs.
I love the smell of mass accelerator discharge in the morning. Smells like victory.
"That did it," Kasumi said brightly when I returned. She handed me a pack of platinum.
"When the heck did you have time to go..." I broke off as Kasumi gave me a look. "Never mind."
"What the hell are you people doing down there?"
Guess Hock heard the explosion. Oops.
Kasumi and I resumed our crawl through the vents. I had to admit, it was kinda nice to have someone with a similar instinct towards kleptomania and a total lack of shame about it. I said as much.
"Oh, it was nothing," Kasumi said modestly. "I hope you're okay with this vent idea."
"It's refreshing to actually sneak by mercs instead of shoot them," I admitted.
"Yeah," Kasumi chirped. "Besides, this way, I get to stare at your cute little butt."
On second thought, shooting mercs wasn't so bad.
Speaking of which, the ventilation shaft led to a ceiling vent built into some kind of cargo bay. Hopping down on a support beam, we peered down to see crates (of course), barrels (of course) and mercs (of course).
With another YMIR mech (of course).
We shimmed along the support beam, hoping to make it to the other side of the cargo bay and find some kind of exit. We were two-thirds of the way across when the YMIR mech tilted its head. Stupid sensors.
Without pausing to think—something I was depressingly adept at—I jumped off the support beam towards a stack of crates, Kasumi close on my heels. Hopping down the stack, we huddled behind a couple barrels. "Concentrate on taking out the mech's shields," I shouted over the comm. "I'll handle the mercs!"
Kasumi nodded and sent an EMP at the appropriate target. And then another, and then another. Once its shields were down, I had her switch to knocking out the shields of random mercs while I started melting its armour off one round at a time.
The mercs must have been sensed that we were pinned down, and their pet mech was great at laying down covering fire while they got closer. So they started moving around the mech towards areas that were closer to our position.
Just as I had planned.
As soon as the mech's armour was destroyed, I took out my sniper rifle and cloaked. Two headshots were enough to overload its systems. It swayed back and forth, collapsed...
...and exploded with a force comparable to a low-yield tactical nuke. A very low-yield, granted, minus the radioactive fallout, with enough energy to vaporize just about every merc in the vicinity. The only survivor was some chump way back who was firing rockets at us. Didn't take long to take him out.
"Don't fight me, Kasumi," Hock hissed over the loudspeakers. "You know what happened to your boy toy when he fought back."
"Don't you dare talk about Keiji like that, you murderer!" Kasumi yelled back.
"Kasumi," I warned. "Don't let him get to you." Last thing I needed was for her to get knocked out again. Or worse.
Kasumi's eyes were blazing, but she listened to me. At least, she relented long enough for me to drag her towards another vent—the things I do for the sake of the mission. Unfortunately, that vent only took us another hundred metres to a small storage room filled with supplies. Everything toiletries to cleaning supplies to paint to—ooh, thermal clips!
Just as I was about to pick them up, I heard a beep. Someone was about to come in. Motioning for Kasumi to hide, I grabbed a can of maroon paint and opened it. I swiped my fingers through it, closed the paint can and smeared it on my leg and along the side of my body. Then I slumped against a crate, angling myself so my grenade launcher was out of sight.
My timing was perfect, as three troopers barged in. It only took them a second to spot me.
"Over there," one of them shouted. The trio jogged over.
"Goddamn it," I cursed. "Bitch got in a lucky shot."
"Report," their leader ordered.
"That thief just blew through a bunch of us back in the last storage bay," I groaned. "The seven of us thought we could handle them." I snorted. "Boy were we wrong."
"What happened?"
"Must've hacked the YMIR. Damn thing turned on us after its shields and armour were toast."
"Are there any survivors?" the merc who'd first spoken asked.
"Beats me," I shook my head. "Shockwave from one of the YMIR's rockets sent me flying into the wall. Must've bounced my head against my helmet and got knocked out. I came to just in time to see her climb into that vent." I pointed up at a pipe in the ceiling that ran in a northerly direction.
"Can you get up?" the third one, who hadn't spoken up to this point, asked.
I made a show of trying to get up, then sagged back down with a groan. "Nope. Goddamn bullets must've dealt more damage than I thought."
"You stay here," the leader said. "We'll try to head them off. We'll send someone back with medi-gel as soon as we can."
"Don't worry about me," I waved them off. "Just get those assholes."
The three of them ran off. Guess the Eclipse hardsuit helped after all. Kasumi decloaked as soon as their footsteps faded away.
"Nice job," she grinned.
"Thanks," I said, "but we're not done yet. Help me up, will ya?"
"Hang on, I wanna grab these thermal clips first."
Thanks to Kasumi's blueprints, we got to the landing bay without a single wrong turn. It was up on the roof, with lots of vents and pipes and crates scattered around. Perfect place for an ambush. So both of us cautiously moved forward, guns at the ready.
Sure enough, we heard a deep humming sound approach us. Sounded like an...
...engine?
Aw, crap.
A gunship rose up into view a second later. It was encased in its own protective shield, which flowed over it like water over a rock. A very large, very dangerous rock that was spitting out gunfire like there was no tomorrow.
"Incoming!" I yelled. "Get down!"
We huddled behind a crate as gunfire ricocheted all around us. "We could have done this the easy way, Goto," Hock's voice boomed out. "Allow me to show you the hard way!"
A bunch of mercs showed up at that moment, as if on cue, and the fight was on.
Oddly enough, Hock wasn't too much of a threat—mainly because Hock was clearly not used to this combat stuff. If he had any combat training or experience, he'd have flown the gunship directly over us—thus negating our cover—and blown us to smithereens. Instead, he stayed safely away and shot at us from a distance, thus allowing us to take refuge. His reticence might have had something to do with his piss-poor piloting and aim, though. His gunship kept veering from side to side like a drunken marine and his aim wasn't exactly stellar. Granted, with the heat he was packing, he'd only need one lucky shot to take us out. But as long as we kept our wits about us, that wouldn't be much of a problem.
Therefore, we focused our efforts on the mercs. Kasumi knocked out one of the merc's shields while I shot a LOKI mech's head off. After pausing for a moment to catch my breath, I set 'Kasumi's' merc on fire while she kept the others occupied with some gunfire. Few more rounds of that and we were all clear. Even had the chance to take a sliver off of the gunship's shields.
Naturally another bunch of mercs arrived within a minute. Over on the left, this time. Smart—trying to flank us. Would've been smarter if they tried to get the drop on us while their buddies were keeping us occupied earlier, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Kasumi and I were did something different with the mechs—with me melting its armour with my plasma and her following up with an EMP, rather than the other way around. Other than that, it was business as usual—EMPs, plasma fire, gunfire, try not to get your shields too low, repeat. Once we reduced the opposition to two mercs who didn't have the benefit of shields, Kasumi could devote her EMPs to chip away at the shields of Hock's toy.
People with enough combat or tech experience would know that any EMP generated by an omni-tool would primarily be useful against infantry, simply because a hardsuit's power core can only generate so much energy. Trying to use it against a vehicle is like using a pistol against a Mako—better than nothing, but it's gonna take a lot of time.
And boy did it ever. Even though we took our sweet time eliminating the last couple mercs, and it took what seemed like forever before the next wave of mercs showed up, the gunship absorbed a lotof EMPs.
"Even if you escape, Kasumi, I'll scour the galaxy for you," Hock spat after the fifth or sixth pulse.
At first I thought that was a bit of defiance on Hock's part. According to my HUD, we had almost worn down his shields.
Then I saw them regenerate to full strength before my eyes.
Aw, crap.
"Do what you like to this gunship," Hock taunted. "I have a squadron of them."
Of course he would. Because collecting vintage aircars is so gauche.
Hock then switched to issuing orders to his mercs. "Careful, men. I want to keep her pretty face intact."
I couldn't really worry about the neat trick on Hock's gunship or the fact that my face wasn't pretty. Too busy sniping mercs or setting them on fire. I later found out that we took them out within ten minutes. Felt like longer. The fact that we didn't get much of a breather before yet another round of mercs popped up didn't help.
"More mercs to the left," Kasumi warned. "Gunship's back too and with full shields."
I gave her a funny look as I grabbed a thermal clip nearby and slotted it into my sniper rifle. "Yeah, it regenerated its shields when the last bunch of mercs showed up."
"Ah. Didn't notice with all the fun I was having," Kasumi said. "If I can get to the gunship, I can take down those shields."
"Right," I nodded. "Let's whittle down these mercs, then we can move you into position."
First I had to take out some annoying mercs who had the gall to carry rocket launchers. I cloaked and sighted down on one, tracking her as she moved towards cover. Exhaled. Pulled the trigger. Watched a puff of blood exit the back of her head before she dropped.
I tried the same with another merc, just as she fired a rocket at Kasumi. Reflexively, I twitched and my shot went wide. Second shot struck home, though. As I took my eyes of the scope and dropped back behind cover, I noticed that Kasumi was sitting on the ground, sporting a nasty shoulder wound.
"I'm fine," she said, waving me off. "My hardsuit will patch it up in a minute. Just finish off those mercs."
Easy enough. Only one more to go, and he didn't last very long.
Maybe Hock got impatient. Or he let his bloodlust get the best of him. Whatever the reason, he chose that moment to close in. "Got a clear shot," Kasumi told me. "Here we go!"
What I saw next was truly remarkable. Kasumi dashed for a set of fuel pipes that snaked up and along the building, ran up three parallel pipes like stairs before throwing herself at a horizontal pipe to the side. She swung over to a vertical pipe and pulled herself up, having carried enough momentum to actually lift herself up in the air before gently touching down on another horizontal pipe like a bird touching down for a landing. Then she ran along the length of the pipe towards Hock, who was trying to line up a clear shot on her and failing miserably.
Kasumi wasn't about to wait around until he fixed his aim. With a final sprint, she launched herself in the air, soaring across the sky before landing on the gunship. Somehow getting a grip despite the shields, she pointed her omni-tool at a precise location. With a flash of sparks, the gunship's shields started to fail, peeling away from Kasumi like the peel being removed from an orange.
The gunship lurched to the side, either because Kasumi's trick temporarily disrupted the navigational systems or because Hock was desperately trying to shake her off. Regardless of the reason, Kasumi clung on, swinging herself over to crouch on the cockpit windows. She gave a jaunty wave at Hock with her submachine gun, then dove off the gunship, curling at just the right moment to land gracefully on all fours back on the roof.
I don't think I could ever do something that impressive. I don't have the agility or flexibility. Or the legs.
"Shields down," Kasumi reported. "Now let's tear that thing apart."
"You should have died in the vault," Hock cursed. "Now you'll die in pieces! Your eyes will sell well on the open market!"
Says the guy who's gradually getting his gunship dismantled with every bullet and plasma fire, I thought. A round of bullets bouncing off my shields reminded me that he was also the guy who had a few more mercs on his payroll. So Kasumi and I spent some more time shooting and burning up mercs, while gradually digging chunks out of the gunship's armour.
Finally, my HUD told me the gunship was damaged enough. I cloaked, grabbed my sniper rifle and sighted on the engine coolant regulators. One shot was all I needed to turn Hock, his expensive clothes and his fancy gunship into one overpriced firework display.
Then we just had to occupy ourselves scooping up thermal clips, medi-gel and power cells until the shuttle arrived.
"Are you sure?"
Kasumi had adapted one of the shuttle's computers to transfer the contents of Keiji's greybox into her own, while setting up a link that would allow me to see whatever memories she accessed on another terminal.
"You did everything I asked and more," Kasumi said firmly. "Even covered my butt while I was wounded. Or unconscious. Besides, if whatever Keiji found really is damaging to the Alliance, you'd know what to do with it."
Not knowing what to say, I just nodded silently. I pulled up Kasumi's vitals to monitor while confirming the link was good and let her plug Keiji's greybox into the computer. A Japanese man appeared on my monitor. Keiji Okuda, I presumed. He looked... sad.
The view changed to a dark room. Keiji and Kasumi were in the centre, with holographic displays arranged on the floor around them in concentric circles. Bits of light flickered back and forth as if they were following some invisible grid. "Kasumi," Keiji began, "if you're seeing this... it's because I'm dead. The information we found is all here."
Keiji gestured to his right. Dozens of thumbnails flickered into view with a hum, extending off into the distance. Presumably each thumbnail represented a specific memory. "It's big, Kasumi," he whispered. "If the Council ever found out, the Alliance could be implicated."
As Keiji talked, Kasumi slowly walked along the thumbnails. Glowing blue-green circles rippled from her footsteps, as if she was walking through some digital stream. For the first time, I noticed a small holographic visor over her eyes, both in cyberspace and in real life.
"Kasumi, I... I encrypted the information to keep it safe, and I uploaded the encryption key to your greybox, so no one can get the whole package."
Kasumi stopped at one thumbnail and expanded it. The picture showed Keiji and Kasumi, just before they were about to kiss. She made a motion, and the picture turned into a... a memory video, I guess. Keiji was facing a window, a sunset off on the distant horizon. Behind him, Kasumi said something that drew his attention. He turned to face her, and she tilted her head to the side.
"But if I'm dead, and if anybody knows about this, then I've made you a target, my love. I'm so, so sorry."
"Keiji," Kasumi whispered as the video showed the two of them holding hands.
"I know you, Kasumi. You'll want to keep these memories forever."
Keiji bent over to give Kasumi another kiss. She let him do so for a second before pushing back onto a bed. This was starting to get awkward.
"But you don't need some neural implant to know I'll always be with you."
Kasumi knelt on the bed and starting crawling towards Keiji.
"Please, Kasumi. Destroy these files."
On the monitor, I saw Kasumi tear her attention away from the video and back towards Keiji's recording. She ran back towards him, much to my relief. Watching that video was getting really uncomfortable.
"There's nothing more I can do to protect you," Keiji continued.
"I... I can't do that," Kasumi cried out, ignoring the fact that this recording probably wasn't advanced enough to respond to her. "This is all that's left."
"Goodbye, Kasumi," Keiji finished. "I love you."
Kasumi grabbed him for one last hug. The thumbnails moved until they surrounded the pair, like planets orbiting a star.
With a sudden chirp, the monitor went blank. *Transfer complete* the monitor said. I looked over at Kasumi. The holographic visor had disappeared, allowing the hood of her hardsuit to cast a shadow over her eyes once more. By now, though, I was used to that shadow, so I could see the pain and heartache in her eyes.
"Is there any way we can just destroy the information?" I asked.
"No," Kasumi said sadly. "Keiji's a master at encrypting files. He laced the information into his memories. You can't get one without experiencing the other."
"You know what that information holds," I told her. "I agree with Keiji—that information hasto stay buried."
"I know," she said brokenly. "I just... I never had a chance to say goodbye. Not really. I know destroying the information is the smart thing to do but... I can't. Not yet."
Goddamn it. Being the smooth-talker that I am, I could probably convince—or bully her—into wiping the information clean. So what if it eliminates Keiji's memories in the process? It's worth the cost, right? Right?
Goddamn it.
"If it's that important to you, keep it," I sighed. "Just make sure you're ready to live with the consequences." (10)
"Yeah, I am," Kasumi nodded. "I'll stay off the grid. No one will know I exist. And I'll install a subroutine so if I do get caught, I can wipe the data." She sat down in a seat. "I think I want... I think I need this. Thanks, Shepard."
After we got back to the Normandy, I got caught up in work. So I didn't get to see Kasumi again until the next day.
"I appreciate your help with the Hock heist," she said softly. "I've been going through Keiji's greybox. It's so nice to have him back, even in that form. I miss him."
"He sounded like a good man," I told her. "Willing to do what was right, both for the Alliance and for those he cared for."
"Yeah. Yeah, he was."
She tried to engage me in some small talk. Something about how Gardner's cooking had improved since I got him those provisions. But it was clear her heart wasn't in it, so I left her about a minute later. She was clearly still coming to terms with Keiji's death. Still grieving.
Sometimes those are the kinds of things that should be done alone.
(1): Illium is a world developed to facilitate a steady flow of goods between the Asari Republics and the Terminus Systems. It is renowned for its glamour, luxury and safety—the latter enabled by constant surveillance systems—making it a favoured destination for tourists, celebrities and businesses. However, it is also infamous for its substantially relaxed custom laws and labour practises.
(2): A 'legend' is a term reserved for an alias or alternate identity, one used by individuals in the espionage profession.
(3): Shepard ignores the fact that it may have been logistically difficult or impossible to bring more squad members in as backup.
(4): "Non, je ne regrette rien," by Édith Piaf. I didn't understand why Shepard picked this particular song. He later explained that it was used in a 2010 science fiction film called Inception, which incorporated numerous elements such as heists, memory and catharsis.
(5): Military personnel are lucky if they get a sleeping pod or a bunk bed, and captain's cabins are rarely much larger than a small office. This means that Hock's quarters, while undoubtedly grand, are actually quite modest by luxury standards.
(6): Shepard is referring to an assignment he completed on my request shortly before the events on Bekenstein, the details of which are not relevant at this time.
(7): The Statue of Liberty endured multiple terrorist attacks until finally being brought down by the group Freedom's First on November 1st, 2096. While it was rebuilt by the executive order of President Kaitlin Cheung, the original's head was put on display in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Regrettably, the head disappeared during heavy shelling by secessionist forces during the Battle of Washington in 2098. In 2159, photos surfaced that showed the head of the Statue of Liberty inside a freighter's cargo hold, but attracted minimal interest due to humanity's interest in colonizing new worlds, meeting new species and entering the galactic stage.
(8): A reference to 'Planet of the Apes,' a 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle that inspired numerous sequels and films, including a 1968 film by the same name starring Charlton Heston.
(9): Flashbang grenades are designed to incapacitate rather than destroy, using various means of generating intense light and sound.
(10): Uncharacteristically for Shepard, he never did explain what this 'secret' was, even in this private record. Clearly it was something so damning and inflammatory, he wasn't willing to discuss it, even under the rigorous firewalls and precautions he employed for his logs.