Chapter 15: It's All about Karma
I suppose there are a couple reasons why I decided to recruit Thane Krios first. Maybe it was because his skills as an assassin could bring an extra layer of sneakiness to the squad, which is never a bad thing in my unasked-for opinion. Maybe it was because he was as skilled with the sniper rifle as he was with his biotics, which potentially made him a kindred spirit in my book. Or maybe because he was a drell, a species I had never met before, and I wanted to indulge my curiosity.
Whatever the reason, we left the Normandy to try and track him down. We had decided to sleep onboard the Normandy for the simple reason that it would be infinitely cheaper—and safer—than booking a room at one of the myriad hotels on Illium. Besides, I had to do some computer stuff: Miranda had indeed managed to hack her way into my e-mail accounts. Plus she—or EDI or someone else with too much time on their hands—had restored the surveillance feed from the lone bug in my quarters. Both were readily corrected by redirecting things to the same guy. And the best part: Miranda would be able to confirm, once and for all, whether or not Joker really did spend an inordinate amount of time surfing the extranet for porn.
On the way out, I noticed that Miranda had donned a new set of clothes. She wasn't the only one who had experimented with something new—Zaeed, Kasumi and Jacob had all sported new duds at some point while we were flying from planet to planet. But they had ultimately chosen to keep their original hardsuits or outfits for their own reasons.
Zaeed had found a hardsuit similar to his old one, with red plates instead of yellow, but ultimately felt that red wasn't his colour. His old hardsuit had seen him through some rough spots, he said, and it just seemed a bit disloyal to try something different now. It was the sort of superstitious rot that made sense to him. Besides, he said, if he took a bullet while hunting mercs or something, he wanted to know where he was bleeding out.
Kasumi had also experimented with red. She even had a head-to-toe outfit, complete with hood, which she had tried out on the Normandy. Lately, though, she'd been favouring her original black clothes more and more. Something about how going around in red elicited nothing but the automatic "Looks nice" from various crewmembers. Plus, when she asked Jacob for his opinion, he hadn't noticed that she was wearing something new. And then he wondered why Kasumi was mad at him. Oh, Jacob...
Speaking of Jacob, he had also tried a new colour pattern. After five minutes or so, he switched back. His old hardsuit worked just fine, thank you very much. No sense changing for the simple sake of aesthetics.
So why did Miranda change her clothes? I suspect Enyala's comment about her 'whoring around in that outfit' had struck home, even if she never admitted it. She must have known what kind of effect her black and white outfit had on others, what with the way it proudly sported the Cerberus logo, hugged every curve of her body as if she had been poured into it, and prominently displayed her ample breasts, long legs and great ass.
But apparently after ensuring her sister's safety, and actually meeting her for the first time in years, she had decided it was time for a change. So now she wore a black cat suit with orange accents. One that proudly sported the Cerberus logo, hugged every curve of her body as if she had been poured into it, and prominently displayed her ample breasts, long legs and great ass.
Maybe she thought black was more slimming. Or intimidating. How would I know? I joined the Alliance so I wouldn't have to make strange choices like that.
But enough about my squad and their clothes.
According to Liara, Thane was here to kill a corporate executive named Nassana Dantius—the same Nassana Dantius who duped me into killing her criminal sister to protect her political career. (1) Since then, she'd gone private sector. Logically, it made sense to find Thane by finding Nassana. However, it occurred to me that it would be wise to talk to the last person who saw him—an asari named Seryna.
Yeah, sometimes I'm smart like that. Don't look so surprised.
Seryna worked at an office on one of the cargo transfer levels. Surprisingly, it didn't take too long to find her, even though I didn't have a description. There were only two asari there when we showed up, so I had a 50-50 shot.
I randomly picked one of them. "Seryna?"
"Who wants to know?"
Damn, I'm good.
"Name's Shepard," I introduced myself. "Liara T'Soni said you might have information on Thane Krios."
Seryna got up from her desk. "Tana," she said to her colleague, "cover for me. Over here," she told me. She walked over to an office window with a splendid view—I was beginning to think there wasn't any other kind—of Illium's cityscape. We followed.
"Yeah, I know who Thane Krios is," she admitted. "I might have passed him some information, but I didn't hire him. What do you want to know?"
"Maybe you could help me find him," I suggested.
She chuckled. "I can tell you, but you won't stop him. When he contacted me, I checked up on him. The man never gives up on a job."
"Why did he contact you in the first place?" I asked.
"I ran security for Nassana Dantius," she replied. "Then I found out she was having people killed to cover up her dirty secrets. Business rivals, government officials, employees. Anyone who had outlived their usefulness or posed a threat."
She did seem to be awfully fond of that method.
"She fired me when I confronted her. Her loss. I might have been good enough to stop Thane from taking her down."
"Why did she let you go if she killed everyone else?" I frowned.
Seryna shook her head in self-recrimination. "She had her tech guys wipe out all the evidence I had and I was too stupid to make any backups. Without that, I was just a low-ranking employee with no connections. Guess I didn't seem worth it."
A lesson in underestimation if ever I heard one. "If you worked there, you must have an idea what his opposition will be," I said.
"Eclipse mercs. High-tech killers. Undisciplined, but very well-equipped. They don't much care who they kill, as long as they're paid for it."
I was starting to think that Eclipse might have a monopoly on merc contracts on Illium.
"Thane has quite a reception waiting for him," Seryna continued. "I told him all I knew. He didn't seem worried."
"You know, I met a Nassana Dantius on the Citadel a few years ago," I said, pretending I didn't know they were one and the same.
"That's her," Seryna nodded. "Rumour has it that she put out a hit on her own sister. But that was then. She moved back to Illium recently. Now she has more power here in Nos Astra than she ever did on the Citadel—which she uses to keep her friends in check and her enemies dead."
"So where do I find Thane?" I asked.
"The Dantius Towers. Penthouse level of Tower One." She turned and pointed at a skyscraper, tall even by Ilium's standards. There was a second tower next to it, still under construction.
"Tower Two," Seryna identified when I mentioned it. "If Thane is smart, he'll go in from there."
Made sense, I thought. It was much harder to guard a building with doors, windows and holes in the walls.
"Somehow, it doesn't sound like Nassana's just going to let me in," I guessed.
"She's as smart as she is paranoid," Seryna confirmed. "No one's getting in or out of there without a fight. I can get you in, but you'll only get one shot. You'd better be ready."
"What else do you know about Thane?" I asked.
"Not much," she shrugged. "He did say that he's not doing the hit for money. Nobody hired him. I wanted to know who I was helping and he said he's doing this job on his own. That he had to 'restore the balance of his life.'"
Jacob snorted somewhere behind me.
"I don't know. Maybe he's crazy," Seryna said, acknowledging Jacob's reaction. "If he takes down Nassana, I don't care why he does it."
"And now you're offering your help to us?" I asked sceptically. "No strings attached? Just because Nassana fired you?"
"You're going to look for Thane," Seryna pointed out. "Nassana's mercenaries will try to stop you. At the least, you'll distract her guards. Take a little fire, give Thane a clear shot. I didn't hire him to kill Nassana, but after she fired me and forced me to take this low-paying crapshoot-of-a-job, I won't shed any tears when she gets what's coming to her."
Ah, revenge. Gotta love it.
"Enough chit-chat," I decided. "Let's go, then."
"Good," she replied. "I was getting tired of this crap."
One asari's crap was another man's curiosity, I guess.
"We'll go tonight, as soon as the shift workers clear out of Tower Two."
As soon as the sun set, we met Seryna at a nearby aircar terminal. She'd had the foresight to rent out a couple aircars for us. We split the squad up into three teams: Miranda, Grunt and I in Team One; Garrus, Jack and Tali in Team Two; and Jacob, Kasumi, Zaeed and Mordin in Team Three. Each team got into an aircar. Since Seryna knew where she was going, she drove the lead aircar. I had Team One ride shotgun with her. We lifted off the pad and joined the stream of aircars flying amidst the towers and skyscrapers. Like neon-coloured fish swimming through the branches of a coral reef at sunset.
"The towers are heavily guarded," Seryna warned after a couple minutes, "and you'll find more resistance closer to the penthouse.
"What's your interest in Thane, anyway?" she asked. "You planning to stop him? Maybe kill Nassana yourself?"
"I'm just here to make sure he survives," I replied after a moment.
"Hmm," was all she said in return. We flew for another ten minutes or so before she leaned forward. "There they are," she pointed out. "The Dantius Towers. You'll have to go up the second tower and cross the bridge to get to the penthouse. Her mercs will fight you every step of the way, but it's your best chance."
"Why don't we just take the aircar directly to the penthouse?" I wanted to know.
"She's got mercs with rockets just waiting for you to try. You'd get maybe halfway up before they shot you down."
Bridge it was.
"Thane won't go in that way. Not if he knows any better. Best to go in low."
"Got it," I nodded.
"We're almost there," Seryna said. "Hold on."
We broke off from the flow of traffic and descended down a side street before emerging onto a main thoroughfare. A minute later, we touched down outside a large building proudly identifying itself as 'Dantius Towers.' Miranda, Grunt and I got out. We waited for the rest of the squad to join us.
"Don't linger too long," Seryna warned. "The mercs'll be here to greet you soon enough."
"We'll be off as soon as the others catch up," I reassured her.
"Good luck, Shepard," she offered before closing the hatch and flying off.
While we waited for Teams Two and Three, we glimpsed some movement through the glass doors. A pair of salarians was running along the lobby, chased by a bunch of LOKI and FENRIS mechs. As we watched, they got shot in the back. Both collapsed.
Then the mechs noticed us.
Grunt immediately fired a couple rounds into the FENRIS mechs, shattering the glass doors in the process. Miranda and I ganged up on one of the metal dogs while Grunt took the other one out the old fashioned way. By that point, the other teams were barrelling out of the aircars and heading our way. Needless to say, the remaining mechs didn't last long.
Naturally we scrounged for anything useful after the bullets stopped flying around. It was in the midst of all that searching that we came across one of the salarians we'd seen earlier. He was still alive, slumped over on the ground near a door. "Help..." he wheezed.
"Still ticking," Zaeed observed.
"I can't feel my legs..." the salarian gasped. "My chest is killing me."
"Who sent those mechs after you?" I asked, kneeling down. "And why?"
"Nassana... sent them after us... I don't know why. We're just... night workers! She sent the mechs to round us up, but we didn't hear... they just started shooting."
"Just like that?"
"Yes," the salarian replied in a hoarse voice. "We were too slow. It was horrible. Everyone... screaming... The mercs said there was no time. Nassana wanted us out of the way... immediately. Then... the dogs..."
He doubled over in a coughing fit, his body trembling. "I can't breathe... please... help me... My chest is—"
I hastily gave him a dose of medi-gel. Dead guys don't talk, after all. (2)
"Really?" Grunt scratched his head. "This guy? Why?"
"Take your time," I told the salarian, ignoring Grunt for the moment. With some effort, the salarian got to his feet.
"I think I'm... better..." he said.
I'd say so. His voice sounded much clearer.
"Find the other workers," he urged. "Help them."
"I need to get to the penthouse," I told him. "Any suggestions?"
"Take the service elevators to the upper floors," he advised, "then go across the bridge between the towers. The bridge isn't finished yet, but if you're careful... Just watch out for the mercs. They're everywhere."
"Speaking of which, any idea how many mercs Nassana's got?"
"A lot," he replied. "Dozens of them were wandering around here all day. You'll find more the further up you go."
Great.
"Why would Nassana order them to kill her own workers?" I wondered.
"To her, we're expendable," the salarian said sadly. "But... I didn't realize she was that ruthless. My friends... co-workers... slaughtered. They were jumping off ledges to escape the dogs," he shuddered.
While we were talking, Garrus was playing around with the controls to the door. With a hiss, one of them opened. That was my cue. "I'll do what I can," I told the salarian.
"Thank you," he said, limping for the door.
As soon as he disappeared out of sight, we headed through the door and through a hallway into an adjoining room. I was debating whether to reorganize the squad into two teams again, when I was interrupted by the arrival of a few Eclipse mercs and a bunch of LOKI and FENRIS mechs.
"Team Three—cover fire!" I yelled. "Everyone else with me!"
We charged into the room—arranged in a U-shaped configuration—while Team Three kept the mercs and mechs busy, finding some cover behind some construction materials. Then it was Team One's turn to lay down covering fire, allowing Team Three to join us and Team Two to advance to a stack of girders a little bit closer to the enemy. I poked my head out long enough to designate targets for each team.
Then it was time to get to work. Mordin and I staggered plasma bursts to damage the mechs; Miranda, Garrus and Kasumi fired off EMPs at mechs and merc shields alike; Grunt and Zaeed delivered the final blow with concussive rounds. Jacob and Jack kept things from getting too hectic for us by levitating bad guys out of the way, temporarily removing them from combat. The whole idea was to constantly lay on the pressure and keep them huddled up so we could move into position and take them out one by one. That worked for the first few minutes.
Unfortunately, the next wave of bad guys was led by a biotic who had a few neurons to rub together. He cleverly positioned himself in a location where we couldn't get a good lock on him, not without exposing ourselves to danger, and started sending in mechs after us. If we tried to move, we'd get shot. If we stayed put, we'd get shot later.
Thankfully, they hadn't reckoned on me, my cloak and my sniper rifle. Now if I could only get that pair of mechs out of the way...
"Grunt? Miranda?"
"On your ass!" Grunt snapped—not at me, but at one of the mechs, sending it flying with a concussive round. Not enough to destroy it, but certainly enough to separate it from its synthetic bud, which promptly blew up after one of Miranda's EMPs.
That gave me enough time to sneak into firing position, cloak, and put a bullet through the biotic's head.
"Enemies on our right!" Garrus warned.
Eek. A pair of mercs was sneaking up on us, along with the mech that Grunt had damaged earlier. And guess who was closest to them and utterly exposed?
Yep, you guessed it.
Without hesitation, I promptly made an undignified tactical withdrawal, taking refuge behind a pillar. Not the best cover, but enough to get me out of their line of fire. "Back so soon?" Miranda asked.
"And you brought friends," Kasumi added.
I scowled at them. "Please shut up and get ready." After giving them orders, I waited until they got close enough and then leaned out. Miranda and Kasumi dropped EMPs on the three of them. While it damaged their shields, the main goal was to overload the mech into exploding right next to his merc masters. They cried out in shock, just before my plasma fire washed over them.
Now that my ass was safe for now, I looked around the corridor. There were two adjacent corridors; one with cover. We were too far away for my sensors to pick up any bad guys, but my eyeballs were working just fine. I lifted my sniper rifle, cloaked and planted a neat headshot into a merc. Judging by the flare of energy I saw just before the guy's head popped like a melon, he was another biotic. I mentally patted myself on the back for eliminating one of the major threats.
"Team One down the left corridor," I ordered. "Teams Two and Three take the right."
Yeah, I was ordering my team to go down one of the corridors alone. But at least we had cover. Hopefully Teams Two and Three could blast through any opposition and back us up.
Sure enough, that's how things played out. While we kept the Eclipse mercs busy, their mechs were getting slaughtered in the adjacent corridor by the rest of the squad, judging by all the explosions and cheers we were hearing.
Next thing I knew, the mercs were running out of cover back into the right hand corridor. The next minute was filled with gunfire. And then they were silent.
"Why did they do that?" Miranda frowned.
"Beats me," I shrugged, consulting my HUD, "but we're clear now. Looks like the rest of the squad took everyone out."
"Lucky," Grunt grumbled.
We soon found out why the mercs ran into the line of fire—the door leading to the next level was in the right hand corridor. The mercs knew that if they get cut off it they stayed put, so a suicidal dash was their only hope. Opening the door, we saw a narrow ramp leading up, with nothing but empty space between us and the ground below.
Come to think of it, there were clear signs that this tower hadn't been completed yet. Construction supplies everywhere. Hardcopy prints lying left and right. Unfinished rooms. Walls with lots of gaping holes. That sort of thing.
Somehow, we managed to make our way up the ramp, one by one, and entered the second level. We were about to move when we heard voices.
"Hey—I think he went in here."
"Well, go get him!"
"You go!"
"Get your ass in there—Nassana's not paying you to stand around."
"Fine... but I..."
There was a pair of gunshots. Then silence. I paused to look at my squad, noting how the light was steadily getting dimmer. The back of my neck abruptly tingled...
...I instinctively dove to the side, barely dodging a merc who dropped through the vent above us to flop on the ground. If I hadn't gotten out of the way, he'd have landed right on top of me. Plus, my little manoeuvre sent me landing next to a pair of med-kits and some thermal clips, mine for the taking.
Have I mentioned how much I love freebies?
"Threats detected. Subdue and suppress."
Aw, crap.
We hastily found cover, just before a pack of mercs and mechs showed up. As we engaged the latest bad guys, I noted that our fire discipline was a bit sloppy this time. The emphasis seemed to be more on disabling any protection the bad guys had rather than concentrating on taking them out one at a time. It didn't seem too bad, I reflected. True, it meant we still had the same number of bad guys taking pot shots at us, but we could whittle them down eventually. All we needed was enough time.
Time we suddenly didn't have, as another biotic showed up, sending a blue burst of energy whipping past our heads.
"Miranda, Garrus, Kasumi; keep the mechs off our tails," I called out. If we didn't do something about the mechs, they would blithely walk through the crossfire until they were within point-blank range. Then it would be a choice between staying put and getting shot or running away and getting shot. "Everyone else, take out the biotic!"
Two concussive rounds and a biotic attack shattered the merc's barriers. Mordin and I set him on fire simultaneously. By a stroke of luck, there was enough plasma splashing around to hit another merc. In his effort to slap out the fire, he stood up. His head exploded a nanosecond later.
"Excuse me," a LOKI mech politely said, stepping around the suddenly headless merc as he dropped to the ground.
Kasumi leaned out and overloaded its systems with her EMP. "Excuse me," she echoed, as it collapsed to the floor and exploded.
Two mercs left. I motioned for Garrus and Zaeed to get their sniper rifles ready before standing up and walking out of cover. Needless to say, the mercs couldn't resist the opportunity I'd handed them.
Needless to say, Garrus and Zaeed couldn't resist the opportunity to drill an extra hole in their heads.
I was already running by them as their bodies slumped over. The novelty of running into mercs was starting to get a bit thin, and I wanted to do some recon. So I scouted just far enough to see what was waiting for us—thanks to my cloak, of course—noted something else, and then got back to the others.
"Six mercs—including a biotic—and seven LOKI mechs," I reported. "Once they're down, we can access the service elevator. Oh, and we've been going in circles."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Jack asked.
"It means this is a circular tower and we've been literally going around in a circle," I replied. "Based on the view out the window, if we had blown a hole in the wall as soon as we got to the second floor, we could have been in the service elevator and going up ages ago."
"Naturally," Miranda muttered.
"Hindsight and all that," I sighed in commiseration. "Well, let's go."
"Actually," Garrus piped up. "Miranda and I were discussing an idea. There are an awful lot of thermal clips that the mercs dropped back there. Clips we can't carry with us because we don't have the space. Maybe we should use up some ammo so we could pick them up."
"I'm listening," I prompted.
"I love this idea," I said, just before cloaking and firing another shot from my sniper rifle. I lowered my rifle, frowned, lifted the rifle and pulled the trigger again. This time, the merc went down.
"It lacks elegance," Miranda commented beside me, "but it does solve our distance problem."
She was referring to the fact that most of our sneaky tricks and abilities only worked if we were relatively close to our target (or unless somebody else was relatively close and could use their sensor grid to guide our attacks). Sniper rifles, on the other hand, didn't have that problem.
In unison, Garrus and Zaeed fired off concussive rounds from their sniper rifles, the extra velocity successfully punching through the shields, helmet and grey matter of their targets. "I thought you'd like it," Garrus called out. "This was one of the perks of being Archangel back on Omega."
"Especially when you've got extra ammo," Zaeed added.
He had a point. Normally, we couldn't be quite so profligate with our ammo. But with all the extra thermal clips lying around, we could afford to be a little wasteful.
And by wasteful, I mean take down all six mercs with nothing but sniper shots.
Like I said, I loved this plan.
Now it wasn't really fair for the other squad members to be left out of the fun. That's why everybody else got to take on the mechs. Speaking of which, they were marching up to me, a little bounce in their steps.
"Have fun, everyone?" I guessed.
"You could say that," Tali nodded.
"Yes, sir," Jacob saluted.
"I'm hungry," Grunt rumbled.
"Good to hear it," I replied. (3) "Let's go clip hunting."
We wound up with a lot of loot. Plenty of thermal clips. A few power cells. A nice handful of creds. And, most importantly, a sniper rifle. A M-97 Viper, to be exact.
"Manufactured by Rosenkov Materials," Jacob immediately said when I showed it to him. "Designed for semi-automatic fire to counter barriers and shields, though it's primarily effective against armour. Larger ammo capacity than your Mantis rifle."
"Could be useful," I admitted.
I took it with me and headed over to a side room I'd noticed when picking up my new sniper rifle. Curiously, it was locked. I bypassed the locking mechanism and opened it, automatically raising my pistol as the doors slid open.
Three salarians were cowering inside. Civvies.
"Please... don't kill us!" one of them cried out. "We'll go... we'll go..."
"Hey, look," another said brightly. "They're not Eclipse."
"You're here to help us... right?" the first salarian asked.
I holstered my weapon. Behind me, I glimpsed the others doing the same. Guess they were also worried about potential hostiles. "It's one reason I'm here," I nodded. "Come on out. It's safe enough."
"Thank you," the second salarian said, bowing to me ever so slightly. "We are in your debt."
"Maybe you can return the favour by helping me out," I responded. "I'm looking for someone. Not a merc—he's on his own."
The first salarian scratched his head. "Well, how 'bout whoever sealed us in here?"
"When he found us, I thought we were dead," the second one explained. "But he just closed the door and locked us in."
"Sounds like our assassin was trying to keep them safe," Garrus mused.
"Strange behaviour for an assassin," Miranda observed.
"Assassin?" the first salarian repeated.
"Here for Nassana, I bet," the second one hissed. "She's got it coming. You treat people like this; it always comes back to bite you in the ass."
"Nassana's not your favourite person, Mister..."
"Daroth," the first salarian said. "She's a... hard woman to work for."
"That's an understatement!" the second one laughed bitterly. "She works us long hours. No overtime. And this is what you get in payment. I'm Shelum, by the way."
"She's unpleasant, to say the least," Daroth said with remarkable understatement.
"Why not just quit?"
Daroth lowered his head. "We would if we could."
"Our contract," Shelum clarified. "We're stuck until the job's done. Quitting for any reason can be hazardous to your health."
"We hear that anyone who leaves early tends to disappear," Daroth added. "Probably just a rumour."
"But who wants to find out for sure?" Shelum asked.
"Did you see the one who locked you in?" I asked in return. "Do you know where he might've gone?"
"He's no salarian, I can tell you that," Shelum said. "But I've no idea where he went. Sorry."
"But if he's after Nassana, he'll be heading to the upper levels," Daroth pointed out.
"How many workers were in the tower?" I wanted to know. "Are there many more of you?"
"Not alive," Shelum answered sadly. "We were lucky."
"Wait, some got out before the dogs were sent in," Daroth reminded him. (4) "Maybe a few are hiding somewhere."
"Maybe," I conceded. "But I wouldn't stay here and find out, if I were you. It should be safe down on the lower floors."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Daroth nodded. "Let's go, everybody."
Daroth and the salarian who hadn't spoken left the room. Shelum paused before following them. "Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome."
"And tell your assassin to aim for her head, because she doesn't have a heart!"
"Get moving," Daroth called out.
Once the salarians left, we went to the service elevator. I reached up to press the elevator controls and paused. Partly because the back of my neck was tingling again.
Partly because I'd noticed the display lights on the elevator were ticking down to our level. "Company," I warned. "I've got a feeling that elevator isn't coming down empty."
"We're a little exposed out here," Garrus warned.
"Fine," Grunt grumbled. "I guess we should get behind... stuff."
"Mezzanine," an automatic voice chimed out as we were getting behind various construction supplies. "Have a pleasant stay."
The doors popped open, revealing two Eclipse mercs—one who immediately launched a bolt of plasma, the other generating a combat drone.
And a krogan. With all the nasty regenerative powers of his species. And heavy armour. And shields.
Aw, crap.
"Teams One and Two on the krogan," I yelled.
As I'd hoped, the teams I'd chosen opened fire on the krogan—except for Miranda and Garrus, who dropped twin EMPs on his head. Kasumi launched an EMP of her own at one of the Eclipse mercs, significantly draining her shields. I lifted my sniper rifle to deliver the final blow.
Only it didn't. It took a couple shots to finish her off, which I accomplished at a faster rate and with non-existent recoil. Still, there was no denying this new sniper rifle packed less of a punch. I was beginning to see why the Viper needed more ammo.
Team Three was busy keeping the other Eclipse merc pinned down in the elevator, so I turned my attention back to the krogan. He was busy charging Team Two. Tali spawned her combat drone, Chikitta, but the krogan ran right over it—literally—before slapping Tali aside. She went flying through the air and into the wall. As she crumpled, Jack snarled and charged him. Grunt was quick to follow.
I was about to protest when I noticed my sensor readouts on the krogan. "Mordin, Miranda; get ready. Garrus, Kasumi; charge up for another EMP." I paused for a moment to make sure everyone was ready, then yelled: "Jack, Grunt; get down!"
They ducked just in time for Garrus and Kasumi to drain his shields. Mordin and I immediately fired off plasma rounds from our omni-tool, while Miranda sent a concentrated vortex of biotic energy flying into his face. Then I lifted my sniper rifle and used up the rest of my thermal clip firing headshots into the krogan.
As the krogan finally collapsed, I looked at the Viper sniper rifle. Neat rifle. I liked the rapid fire option. But it didn't seem to have the punch I was used to. Then again, maybe I just needed to get used to it. I decided to hang on to it for now.
Once I made sure Tali was all right, we got into the elevator.
Hopefully we wouldn't get stuck listening to horrible music.
It was tricky trying to ready weapons when you have ten people crammed in the elevator, but we managed to do it nonetheless. We wanted to be ready for everything, after all.
When we got out of the elevator, there was a lone Eclipse merc chatting on the comm. I motioned for everybody to be very, very quiet.
"I haven't heard from Teams Four or Five," the merc was saying. He hadn't noticed us yet, as he was facing the glass window that looked out across Nos Astra. "Don't worry, my team is always ready to go."
He paused for a moment. "I don't know where he is. Not yet." After another pause, he said "Don't worry about it."
As he approached, he reassured whoever was on the other end: "We don't need any reinforcements. I'll take care of it."
That apparently didn't cut it, because the merc was forced to talk again. "It's under control. I'll go down there myself. Talk to you later."
I waited a moment to ensure he'd cut the connection before pointing my gun at him. The rest of the squad followed. "Turn around," I ordered. "Very slowly."
He swivelled his body to look behind us. His shoulders sagged. "Damn it."
"Have you seen the assassin?" I asked, moving towards him.
He took a step back. "Why are you looking for him? You're not one of Nassana's mercs. Who are you?"
I took a few more steps forward, backing the merc against the window. "Answer my questions and I'll let you go," I offered.
"Look, pal, even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you."
I frowned. "Not the answer I was looking for."
"I've got nothing more to say to you," the merc retorted, crossing his arms. "If you shoot me, my team's right through there. They'll be all over you."
"Let me ask you a question," I told him. "Is a little information really worth dying over?" I waited a second before adding "Is Nassana?"
"No... I suppose not."
It's a testament to how unpleasant Nassana was that even the hired help wouldn't stick to the contract they'd agreed to. For a merc, that's really saying something.
"Ok, look... last I heard, the assassin was down on the mezzanine," the merc revealed. "But the teams on the bridge think they might've spotted him. Nobody knows for sure."
Well we just came from the mezzanine, though I wasn't about to tell him that. My guess was that Thane was ahead of us. Well ahead, if he was already on the bridge. Time to stop asking questions and get a move on. "Get going," I said, nodding my head towards the elevator."
"I'm going," the merc assured me, heading off. Time for us to do the same.
"He owes you one," Garrus commented as I led the team out, scooping up a spare datapad along the way. "Anybody else would have killed him."
We entered a large room filled with lots of pillars, stacks of metal sheets and crates. Clearly this room, like everywhere else, was still under construction. Though why they needed volatile materials was beyond me.
"He's all over the place," someone whined.
We immediately crouched down. Slowly we crept forward. Peering around some construction materials, I saw several mercs scattered around and a bunch of powered-down mechs.
"What do you mean?" a female voice asked. She sounded very familiar for some reason.
"We've got reports of him on multiple levels," the merc said. "We think he's travelling through the ducts—"
"I'm not paying you to think," the voice snapped back. "Just find him. Now!"
"Come on," another voice groaned. "She'll be throwing us to the dogs next."
Speaking of which... I stood up and fired off a bolt of plasma at the closest FENRIS mech. Mordin did the same with the other. Then Miranda and Garrus simultaneously blew them up with EMPs.
"What the..."
"Troubl—gah!"
That was Kasumi, shorting out one of the merc's shields. Grunt and Jack teamed up to eliminate the nearest LOKI mech, who was getting to its feet. Jacob and Zaeed almost did the same with another—they didn't exactly destroy it, but they weakened it enough that a stray shot from Tali finished it off.
By then, there were only a couple mercs left. One of them was the one Kasumi had attacked. I finished him off with another fireball. The other two—one asari, one human—were smart enough to stay as far away as possible, at least until backup arrived. I wasn't going to wait that long, of course. I squinted through my scope and fired the rest of my clip at the asari. It was an interesting change to be able to fire more than one shot with a thermal clip. Just wish it packed more of a punch, though. Standing out of cover, even with my cloak, wasn't exactly the smartest idea.
Not that the mercs were able to capitalize on it. As I watched, the human merc slumped over, victim to a sustained barrage from Teams Two and Three. The asari, realizing she was all alone, tried to move into a better position. It was then that she was close enough for my sensors to get a read on her. She was seriously injured, without any armour or barriers to speak of. She was just asking to be finished off, so I obliged.
Once her charred body hit the ground, we searched around for thermal clips. As I picked one up,
"Hello?" a voice called out over the PA, just as I scooped up some thermal clips. "Hello? Damn it, where is everyone?" It was then that I realized that the cranky lady must be my old pal Nassana.
I noticed that there was a door nearby which was locked. I motioned the others over.
"Will somebody please give me a report? Answer me, damn it!"
Ignoring Nassana, I bypassed the lock, and we entered the room.
There were a couple salarians inside. Plus a merc lying on the floor. "Are you guys all right in here?" I asked.
"Get back!" one of them cried out, lifting a pistol. "Get back... I'll shoot."
"Drop the gun, lizard," Grunt growled. (5)
The salarian wasn't listening. "I don't want to hurt you... but I will. I said get back! I'll do it! Please..." he whimpered, "don't make me do it."
"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here," I said. "What's your name?"
The salarian swayed back and forth. "I... I'm Telon. Don't... don't come any closer."
"Telon, I'm Commander Shepard," I greeted him. "I don't work with the mercs and I don't want to hurt you. I'm here to help."
"I... all right... here..." Telon handed me his pistol and swayed back and forth again. "I... don't feel so..." his eyes rolled up and he collapsed on the ground before he could finish.
"Telon!" Another salarian rushed forward. The sudden movement triggered old reflexes, which may be why I suddenly found myself pointing a gun at him. "He's my brother," he explained. "I just want to see if he's all right."
I motioned for him to continue. He checked his pulse for a minute, then looked up. "Are you the ones who... shot the merc?"
I glanced at the merc and shook my head. "It wasn't me. Your brother didn't do it, Mister ...?"
"Chesith," the salarian offered. "And no. Telon was standing here with me."
"What happened, exactly?" I asked, holstering my pistol.
"The merc found us and shouted at us to move," Chesith explained. "We panicked and he shouted more. I thought he was going to kill us... then... his head just exploded. Telon picked up the merc's gun, but we were too afraid to leave. Then you showed up."
So Thane didn't have as much of a lead on us as I had thought. Good to know. What was more impressive was the way the merc was taken out. I glanced over at Garrus, who was thinking the same thing. "A perfect headshot with no collateral damage," he murmured. "Very impressive."
"How safe is that bridge out there?" I wanted to know.
"The bridge is stable, but the wind's your real problem," Chesith told me. "If it doesn't throw you off, the mercs will definitely try. There's a lot of them out there."
"And the bridge is the only way to the penthouse in the other tower?" I pressed, hoping that there might be some other route.
My hopes were predictably dashed. "From here? Yeah. It won't be easy with the mercs. Whatever Nassana's hiding from must be pretty scary."
"Like you said, the mercs are still up here," I said. "You should get to the lower levels. We just came from there and dealt with any mercs or mechs we found, so it should be safer."
"No need to convince me," Chesith nodded, getting to his feet. "Telon... come on, get up." He helped his brother to his feet.
"Can we go home now?" Telon asked plaintively, staring at the floor.
"Yeah, we're getting out of here," Chesith said. Telon and the third salarian, who had never spoken up to this point, left the room. "Thank you," Chesith added with a slight bow before following.
Exiting the room, I saw there was a ramp leading up to the next floor. There were a couple more thermal clips, a spare power cell and some sort of comm terminal right next to it. As I grabbed the power cell, Nassana yelled out "Somebody get down there and tell me what's going on!"
On a whim, I reached out and activated the comm. "It's about time," Nassana snapped. "What's going on down there?"
I couldn't resist. "I'm afraid your men aren't able to respond at this time, Nassana. Can I take a message?"
"Damn it!"
Hee, hee.
The ramp actually led us to the roof, rather than another floor as I had thought. The squad quickly got into cover. Good thing too, as an asari and several LOKI mechs was there to greet us. By this point, we all knew our jobs—anyone who could damage the asari's barriers did so; anyone who could crack the mechs' armour did so; everyone else raised their guns and opened fire.
"Subdue and suppress," one of the mechs said before Grunt took it down with a concussive round.
"Excuse me," another one said politely to Chikkita, which Tali had sent out as a distraction. The combat drone chirped once in reply before zapping the mech. They both blew up.
Turning my attention back to the asari, I saw her barriers were down and she was way too close for comfort. So I set her on fire. And punched her. Several times. Looking up, I spied another asari off in the distance. I fired off a half dozen shots. Only drained her barriers by a third. Seeing the difficulty I was having, Miranda detonated a blast of biotics against her barriers. The asari promptly ducked down.
Just as another one showed up. Great.
We immediately opened fire with gunfire and concussive rounds. I motioned for Team Two to move up while the rest of us were occupying the asari. Speaking of which, I saw that one of them was defenceless. I sent some plasma fire her way. The fireball arced towards her and burst into flame...
...after she raised her barriers again. Damn it!
Miranda and Grunt promptly fired off another blast of biotics and concussive rounds. I lifted my sniper rifle, centred on her head and squeezed the trigger. And again. And again. I kept firing, ignoring the impacts I felt as gunfire hit my shields. As long as I didn't take too much damage, I wasn't about to flinch and lose my sight on the target. I fired again. This time, a spray of blue-purple blood came out the other end and the asari dropped.
"Nice shot," Zaeed complimented me, firing a concussive round of his own. That took out the last merc. We were safe. For now.
I decided to switch back to the Mantis sniper rifle, favouring its increased damage output over its comparatively reduced payload. Besides, it wasn't like I was unfamiliar with conserving ammo. Waving to the squad to follow, I headed around the corner, scooping up some eezo along the way.
"Forget the explosives," we heard. "He's already past us." A moment later, we stumbled into another room. Naturally it was filled with several mercs and mechs.
"We're compromised!" one of them warned.
"Look out! They're behind us too!"
Miranda and Grunt immediately attacked the closest merc—a biotic judging by the ball of blue light he threw back at them—while I melted a mech's armour. Kasumi blew it up a second later, while I pulled out my sniper rifle. Aimed on the merc biotic—or is that biotic merc?—lined up a headshot, breathed out and fired. One shot, one kill. Now that's what I'm talking about!
I was about to find another merc to shoot when I spotted an asari creeping towards us. An asari who, according to my sensors, had barriers and armour protecting her. Clearly this was one of the senior mercs.
"Teams One and Two on the asari," I immediately ordered. "Give her everything you've got. Team Three; the rest are yours."
Miranda immediately sent a burst of biotics to start draining the asari's barriers; Grunt and Garrus finished that job off with their concussive rounds. I immediately sent some plasma off to explode against her armour. She stumbled back, slapping the flames out and looked around. Her eyes focused on me. "I'll tear you apart!" she snarled.
Aw, crap.
She immediately moved towards me, ignoring all the gunfire around her. I kept a nervous eye on her and another on my HUD. As soon as it indicated another round of plasma was ready, I sent it off. Didn't quite burn through her armour, though. I watched as she hopped on top of the platform I was hiding behind and walked towards me. My fingers gripped on my sniper rifle...
...and then I saw that someone's gunfire—whoever it was—had destroyed the remnants of her armour. "Grunt!" I barked.
"On it," he, well, grunted. He lifted his assault rifle up and fired off a concussive round. It hit her right in the midsection, knocking her off the platform. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Right on your ass!"
A second later, my omni-tool was ready again, and I set her on fire. Miranda finished her off with her biotics.
Turning back to the battlefield, I was surprised to see that all the other mercs and mechs were dead or destroyed. So it was time to indulge in my favourite activity—looting.
Next to some dead merc was a small treasure trove of items. We managed to scrounge up some creds and medi-gel, not to mention scan a submachine gun for a potentially nifty upgrade. There was also a PDA full of creds. While I was hacking it, I felt like I was shaking. Maybe I was getting nervous? All those near-deaths were starting to catch up with me?
It was only when I finished hacking the PDA that I realized what was going on. The wind really was strong up here. I gave the order to move out, adding a warning for everyone to watch your step.
"They've seen us," Miranda warned as several LOKI mechs stood up and started firing.
"I don't care what you do," Nassana yelled over the loudspeakers, "no one gets across that bridge!"
We quickly blew through them and waited for the next batch to show up. They didn't. Cautiously, I crept forward. About halfway across the bridge, I halted. I still didn't see any mercs or mechs, but that wasn't what concerned me.
No, what concerned me was the pair of rocket drones stationed at the far end of the bridge. I lifted my sniper rifle, cloaked and aimed. Boy, this wind was making it really hard to get a good shot. I wound up settling for hitting its centre of mass, though I wasn't sure if I actually hit it.
I do know that my shot finally woke up the mercs to come after us. Oops.
Backpedalling back, I noted with some amusement that the mercs actually missed me. Usually they could knock a bit off my shields. Not that I'm complaining. A few basic troopers were the first to join the party. We zapped their shields, set them on fire and sent them on their merry way.
The asari was a little trickier. Thankfully, the wind slowed her down, forcing her to carefully pick her away across the bridge. We used that to blast through her barriers. Miranda was the one who eventually took them down. While the asari was still blinded by Miranda's biotic attack, I sent a fireball towards her. Grunt fired the kill shot—rather gleefully, I thought.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" Nassana demanded. "Just kill them!"
On cue, the rocket drones started firing. It didn't take long to gauge how quickly they could fire. Then we moved across the bridge, slowly leapfrogging from cover to cover.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long before the drones locked on to us and pinned us down. Another pack of mercs picked that time to show up and opened fire as well. They didn't advance, though. Guess they were afraid they'd accidentally get blown up by the rockets.
Fine by us. We took turns popping out of cover and firing something or other at the mercs. It didn't take long before we'd disabled all of the troopers' shields. Then Jacob and Jack had fun lifting them up with their biotics, yanking them way out of cover and into the sky where the rest of us could take pot shots, even while hiding. I think our favourite tactic was to fire concussive rounds while they were floating, watching as the resulting impact sent them hurtling over the edge, and listening to them scream when the biotic fields wore off and they plummeted countless stories down to the pavement below.
Hee, hee.
That was too good for the asari, though. No, we just chipped away at her barriers, set her on fire and listened to her gargle and gurgle.
Hee, hee... okay. Maybe I'm getting a bit too much pleasure out of this.
Before the latest wave of mercs graced us with their presence, I moved forward to the next bit of cover. Now that I was close enough, I could use my sniper rifle to guide the squad's EMP. We managed to take out one of the drones and damage the other one before merc reinforcements showed up.
Again, none of them wanted to get too close. Still worried about the targeting systems on that last merc, I guess. (6) Fine by me—we just stayed back and fired EMPs, biotic attacks, concussive rounds and plasma. One by one, we took down the drones, the troopers and the asari too.
"I'm sending in reinforcements!" Nassana announced, not realizing that all the other mercs were dead.
Those reinforcements turned out to be one lone asari, albeit one toting a hefty set of armour along with her barriers, a nasty looking shotgun and a sour expression on her face.
No other reinforcements backing her up. Either she was that good or Nassana was running out of options. I got everyone into position and stood up. The asari took the bait, moving out of cover to attack. I immediately dropped down.
The asari took three concussive rounds and a biotic attack to the face, obliterating her barriers instantly and damaging her armour. Mordin and I took care of her armour with twin plasma blasts.
"Damn it! Finish them off!" Nassana yelled.
Too bad Nassana didn't specify who was supposed to be finished off.
Tali sent her drone Chikitta towards her. The asari looked at it with annoyance and slapped it away. Chikitta chirped angrily and zapped her with an electrical surge. Unfortunately, the drone was blown away with a shotgun round for its trouble. That was more than enough distraction for Kasumi, who snuck up behind her and delivered a devastating jolt of energy through her omni-tool. Jack finished her off with a biotic shockwave that sent her slamming into the wall.
And that was that. Time to pay Nassana a visit.
Nassana was dressed in an expensive-looking robe, flanked by a trio of mercs. Her mouth dropped when she saw us. Well, me, specifically.
"Shepard?" she sputtered. "But... you're dead."
"I got better," I shrugged.
"And now you're here to kill me," she said.
"Maybe I just missed you," I grinned.
"Screw you, Shepard!" she snapped, swivelling around to stare out the window.
"Charming as ever," I noted.
Nassana turned back and scowled at me. "I'm sure you find this all very ironic. First you take care of my sister and now you're here for me. Well, you made it this far. Now what?"
"You really think I'm here to kill you?" I asked.
"Do you have another reason for destroying my tower?" she retorted. "Decimating my security?"
"I'm just looking for someone," I replied.
"You expect me to believe that?" she sniffed. "Is it credits? Is that what you want?"
Typical. Rich gals always think they can buy their way out. Especially asari, who think they're the universe's gift to drooling humans—boys and girls alike. Still, as long as she thought we were negotiating, the longer we could drag things out.
And the more time Thane would have to get into position.
"Make me an offer," I said.
She looked at me appraisingly and smiled, no doubt amused by the prospect of buying off a Spectre. "Double whatever you're getting."
I heard a hollow thud above us. I didn't want to look at my squad to see if they heard it, as that would give things away. Didn't have to, as it turned out—the mercs heard it too.
Nassana didn't, though, as she continued to spell out her offer. "And I'll pay double again if you tell me who hired you."
She eventually noticed that her mercs were suddenly on edge—more than usual, I mean. The way her mercs were suddenly sweeping the room with their weapons probably gave things away. "What?" she barked.
"I heard something," one of the mercs, an asari, said.
"Me too," another merc confirmed.
"Damn it!" Nassana cursed. "Check the other entrances! You stay put!"
Nassana had turned in our direction to issue that last sentence at us, and the mercs were starting to move apart in order to carry out her order. So none of them noticed the drell who dropped through the air vent into the room.
"When I'm finished dealing with this nuisance," Nassana continued, "you and I are going to... Who...?"
By then, the drell—Thane, presumably—had sprung into action. He reached up, grabbed one of the mercs and snapped his neck. As that merc dropped, he took a step to his left and jabbed forward with his hand, crushing the larynx of merc number two. As that merc gargled, Thane took a step to the side, keeping the second merc between him and the asari so she couldn't get a clear shot. His pistol seemingly jumped into his hand, which he used to drill a neat hole between the asari's eyes as soon as he had a shot. Then he slapped Nassana's hand aside, knocking the pistol she had somehow pulled out of her robes away and jabbed his pistol into her chest. They stared at each other for a moment before he pulled the trigger.
I checked my chronometer. Ten seconds had elapsed from the time he had dropped into the room to the time he had shot Nassana. While taking out three mercs in the process. Very impressive.
Thane gently lowered her to her desk as she gurgled and sighed. He arranged her hands over her chest, like the way the dead are arranged before funerals or burials, and looked at her. Then he clasped his own hands and bowed his head.
"So this is our guy," Grunt grinned. "Good."
"You certainly know how to make an entrance," Garrus told him.
Thane didn't respond. It looked like he was in the midst of a... prayer?
"I was hoping to talk to you," I finally said after a minute.
A second later, Thane lifted his head. "I apologize, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."
"Do you really think she deserves it?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Not for her. For me."
Interesting.
"The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction. All this chaos."
It's kind of sad that a couple months ago, I would have disagreed with him. Now? I might look to add that as my middle name. Or a second middle name. Whatever.
"I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me," he admitted, walking around the desk—and Nassana's body. "Well... here I am."
"How did you know I was coming at all?" I asked.
"I didn't," he replied. "Not until you marched in the front door and started shooting. Nassana had become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her.
"I prefer to work quietly. If I have to fight through guards, I've made a mistake. I rarely make mistakes."
Yeah. My N7 instructors would probably be appalled to learn just how much noise I made clambering around the battlefield.
"You disrupted my plan, but your actions allowed me to complete my mission nonetheless. You were a valuable distraction."
"Let's cut to the chase," I said. "I need you for a mission of my own."
"Indeed?"
"You're familiar with the Collectors?" I asked.
"By reputation," Thane nodded. He walked past me to stare out the window—or at Nassana, I wasn't sure which.
"They're abducting entire human colonies," I told him. "Freedom's Progress, Ferris Fields, Horizon—that was their handiwork."
"I see."
"We're going after them."
Thane whipped his head back towards me. "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."
"They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too," I shrugged.
"A fair point," he conceded. "You've built a career on performing the impossible."
Not by choice.
"This was to be my last job," he revealed. "I'm dying."
Oh.
"Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do?" I offered.
Thane graciously came to my rescue. "There is little you or anyone can do. My condition is not contagious and it won't affect my work. Giving me this opportunity is enough, however. The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die."
Thane turned towards me. "Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough and they suffered. I must atone for that. I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."
We shook hands to seal the deal.
This was going to be interesting.
As usual, Miranda, Garrus, Jacob and I took the latest recruit to the comm room for an informal chat. "Welcome to the Normandy, Mr. Krios," Miranda started. "If the stories and your kill list is any indication, it will be a pleasure to have someone with your expertise on board."
"Sounds like you'll be an asset to the team," Garrus agreed.
Jacob snorted. "Yeah, if you're comfortable having an assassin watch your back."
"I've accepted a contract," Thane replied. "My arm is Shepard's."
"Uh huh." Jacob made no effort to conceal his doubt or disdain. "Don't know about you, but I'm loyal to more than my next pay check."
"Obviously he is, too," I butted in. "He's doing this mission gratis, remember? What's your concern?"
"I don't like mercenaries," Jacob said bluntly. "An assassin is just a precise mercenary."
Interesting that Jacob didn't have any similar comments about Zaeed. Maybe he found a bounty hunter more acceptable than a flat-out assassin. Besides, it wasn't as if Zaeed gave him a chance to air any grievances.
"An assassin is a weapon," Thane corrected politely. "A weapon doesn't choose to kill. The one who wields it does.
"Where shall I put my things?" he asked, changing the topic. "I'd prefer someplace dry, if anything is available."
EDI's avatar popped up in front of him. "The area near the life support plant on the crew deck tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship."
Thane took EDI's appearance in stride. "Ah. An AI? My thanks." He offered a bow towards EDI to demonstrate his appreciation, then nodded towards me. Apparently my return nod indicated that the conversation was over—which it was, I suppose—as he subsequently departed.
"He seems quite civil," EDI approved before vanishing.
"We need all the help we can get," I reminded Jacob. "He's not what I expected in an assassin. He may surprise you."
"Yeah," Jacob scowled. "And he may not." He left without another word.
I made a mental note to stick Thane with my team. That would balance out the snipers and biotics between Teams One and Two. (7) Not to mention that Jacob could focus on his job and not his newly vocalized distrust of guns-for-hire.
Having made that choice, I decided to find out more about my new teammate, so I went down to Life Support on Deck Three after dismissing Miranda and Garrus. Thane had already unpacked an impressive set of weapons, which he had mounted in his 'room' rather than in the Armoury. He was sitting at a table when I arrived, staring out the window at the power core.
"Do you need something?" he asked.
"I like to know my crew. You mind if I ask a few questions?"
"Not at all," he replied.
"The drell live on the hanar homeworld, don't they?" I started. I couldn't imagine living side by side with a race that was so fixated on politeness, formality and protocol. "What's that like?"
Thane knew what I was getting at. "I know many think the hanar difficult to understand," he said. "It's just that they're very formal with those they don't know. We know them quite well. If you ever get close enough to a hanar that they tell you their Soul Name, you would find them warm." (8)
"I thought that hanar only let very close friends know their Soul Name," I said. "How do they differ from their usual names?"
"Most of my commissions were for hanar," Thane replied. "I grew close to my regular contacts. Soul Names tend to be poetic. A hanar known for its cynicism might take a name that means 'Illuminates the Folly of the Dancers.'"
"How did you get to know them?" I wanted to know. "Hanar talk using bioluminescence. Isn't that more of an obstacle than simply being polite or formal?"
"True," he conceded. "Many drell, such as myself, have their eyes genetically modified to perceive their higher frequency flashes. I can't tell the difference between a dark red and black, but I can see ultraviolet light as a silver colour."
Seeing UV light. That was kinda cool. "You took a moment after killing Nassana to pray for her. Who exactly do you pray to?"
"To find my target, I speak with Amonkira, Lord of Hunters. When I act to defend another—Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection. And when I have taken my target, I speak with Kalahira, Goddess of Oceans and the Afterlife."
That was a lot of deities to keep in your address book. "I didn't know that drell had many gods," I admitted.
"It is one of our older beliefs," Thane replied. "Many embrace the hanar Enkindlers now or the asari philosophies. The old ways are dying. There are so many ways to interpret one's place in the universe. Who needs the wisdom of our ancestors? The younger generations don't believe they can help us fathom genetic engineering, orbital strikes or alien races."
Fair point. Many of Earth's religions either faced enormous restructuring or collapsed entirely after humanity discovered the Prothean data cache on Mars.
"Why would Kalahira oversee oceans and the afterlife?" I asked. "They don't seem to have much in common."
"Consider—the ocean is full of life. Yet it is not life as you and I know it. To survive there, we must release our hold on land. Accept a new way to live."
Swimming instead of walking. Adapting. Embracing new ways of thinking and living. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
"So it is with death. The soul must accept its departure from the body. If it cannot, it will be lost."
"There's one more thing," I said tentatively. "When we met, you said you were dying."
"Yes, I thought you'd want to know more," he replied calmly. "As I said before, you don't have to worry about the rest of the crew. My illness is not communicable, even to other drell. It's called Kepral's Syndrome."
"What exactly is the problem?"
"My people are native to an arid world," Thane explained. "Most of us now live on Kahje, the hanar homeworld. It's very humid and rains every day. Our lungs can't deal with the moisture. Over time, the tissue loses its ability to absorb oxygen. It becomes harder to breathe. Eventually, we suffocate."
"Has there been any research to investigate that?" I wanted to know.
"The hanar have funded a genetic engineering program. They should be able to adapt us. The project has only been running for a few years, though. I don't believe my body will still draw breath by the time it bears fruit."
"Have your people considered not living on Kahje?" I asked. "Or using breathers?"
He shook his head. "Drell have a close relationship with the hanar. We rely on each other. The best we can do is keep our homes very dry inside."
"How long do you have?" Blunt, I know, but that's one of the joys of being the CO.
"I should be fine for another eight to twelve months. The more time I spend in humid environments, the faster it progresses. I think it's safe to say that by the time my body is incapacitated, we will be victorious," he added dryly. "Or dead. Either way, I won't be a burden to you."
Heh. I had to say, I liked his sense of humour.
"Is there anything we can do here?" I asked. "Normandy has a state-of-the-art medical bay." (9)
"No, thank you," he declined. "It's being attended to. If the finest medical minds in the hanar Illuminated Primacy can't solve the problem, I doubt your ship's medic could."
Somehow, I think Mordin wouldn't have minded taking a crack at it, even though he seemed to have a ridiculous amount of projects on his plate as it was. I made a mental note to bring it up at some point.
"Thank you for your concern," Thane said. "Trust me—this won't affect my performance."
Of that, I had little doubt. If nothing else, it would be... interesting.
(1): Ms. Dantius originally requested Shepard's help in rescuing her sister on the pretence that she had been abducted. It later turned out that the sister was the leader of a small band of slavers, a fact that could cause considerable embarrassment to her career as a diplomatic emissary.
(2): Following the self-centred rationalization he uses to downplay his actions, one should note that Shepard rarely needed medi-gel to heal himself or his squad—at least, not in significant quantities. Therefore, he could afford to spare some to help this civilian. However, his other actions indicate that he would probably have done so anyway.
(3): Shepard never actually explains to whom he was replying to.
(4): Their reference to the FENRIS mech as dogs was probably an identification of the species they most commonly represented rather than recognition of Fenris as the wolf of Norse mythology.
(5): An ironic reference, given that krogans also have a reptilian origin.
(6): Another option was that the mercenaries were unwilling to get close to the squad who had torn through numerous teams of their compatriots without much difficulty.
(7): Shepard evidently regarded the two-team squad configuration as his default choice. It is worth noting that this option allowed each team to further divide into two smaller teams as the situation warranted—an excellent tactical advantage.
(8): Hanar have two names—a 'face name' that serves as a general label to be used by strangers and acquaintances, and a 'soul name' that is reserved for close friends and relations.
(9): Actually, the Normandy's medical bay is only equipped for first aid and short-term medical care. Anything requiring significant or critical care would have to be transferred to a more extensive and comprehensive medical facility.