Chapter 19
"I'm sorry. It's just not possible for anyone to see Anoleis at the moment. Even with my recommendation, the board won't give authorization at such short notice."
Lorik had taken us up to his office in the Synthetic Insights building adjacent to the main arrivals lounge of Port Hanshan. We had explained the problem to him, but Parasini's insistence that he could help us didn't seem to be paying off.
"We don't have time for red tape, Qui'in. You're blocking us off from getting access to information that could prove vital to the war effort," Garrus said before standing up and leaning over the desk.
"Trust me when I say, you don't want to be in that position."
"I don't appreciate threats, Vakarian. It's true the board may be trying to limit your investigation to protect their own interests, but if that's the case then my influence with them won't stretch far enough to change their minds."
"Even though it was your testimony that put Anoleis behind bars in the first place? Given what he was up to I'd say there's a debt owed there."
"I take that's meant to be a subtle reference to the fact that I wouldn't have been able to testify if you and Shepard hadn't dealt with his thugs? I'm well aware what I owe you, but It doesn't matter. As our former director, Anoleis had access to far too many of the board's own secrets to ever let him talk to anyone who has links to the Alliance. Look if you really need access then get a major official like Councilor Udina to contact the board, then they would have to listen."
Garrus glanced at me briefly, but I shook my head just as he must have known I would. Even if we all agreed not to say anything about me or my sister to Udina, the risk that the board would tell him themselves was far too great. By now they almost certainly knew I was on Noveria (given my past exploits here for Cerberus they had every reason to keep a very close eye on my movements) and it was possible they knew enough about my father to make the connection.
"We don't have that option at the moment," Garrus replied carefully. If Lorik was curious as to why it seemed he was wisely choosing not to show it, acknowledging Garrus' remark with bland acceptance.
"But there is still a way you can get us in Lorik," announced Parasini, breaking the silence she had kept throughout the meeting until now.
"Wha- No. If you bring that up again I really will have to call security this time."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
Lorik sighed, and you could see the weariness about him as he slumped at his desk.
"A few days ago I caught Miss Parasini here attempting to steal data from our systems. She was trying to get hold of the schematics for the prison where Anoleis is being held."
"Wait. That doesn't make any sense, Anoleis is a white-collar criminal, being held for fraud and embezzlement. He should be being held in the Hanshan State Prison, a modest facility with very limited security and defenses. What did you hope to learn?" Liara wondered aloud.
"Sure that's where he's supposed to be. Except that he doesn't exist anywhere on their records at all."
"Care to explain?" I asked Lorik pointedly.
"Look, keep this between yourselves, alright? The board decided early on that although he was a low-risk criminal, some of what he knew was..."
"They were afraid someone might try to break him out and learn what he knew," I finished.
"So they sent him to a more secure facility where they could keep him under guard and protect their secrets," concluded Garrus. "Fine but none of this explains why Synthetic Insights would have a copy of the schematics on their system."
"All the major corporations do, it was the board's way of reassuring them that the situation was under control. Anoleis had plenty of dirt on us as well and there were some that talked of taking their investments elsewhere."
"Doesn't exactly speak to operational security," I commented wryly while exchanging knowing glances with Garrus.
"Still I'm glad we've gotten that all straightened out. Now then..."
He rounded on Qui'in who, to our surprise, immediately put up his hands in a gesture of defeat.
"Whatever you need sir, I can pull up the data for you right now."
"Well that was easy," Liara commented glibly.
Lorik turned on her, clearly annoyed by the comment.
"I don't know what you think you know about me, but I have no interest in stopping you from doing your jobs. I didn't trust Parasini, but as long as my homeworld's burning I won't have it said that I stood in the way of the crew of the Normandy."
Apparently near legendary status does have its privileges. Now, all we had to do was organize a jailbreak.
-Back on the Normandy-
"Holy hell, just look at this place," Vega exclaimed.
We were back in the Normandy's war room again, only this time the main holographic display over the central table had been left on so that it could display images from the prison blueprints we'd taken from Lorik.
"The outer defenses do seem quite formidable," I admitted reluctantly. As far as I was concerned it didn't matter what they looked like, I needed to get inside that building.
"Bad as they are I'm personally more worried about how we plan to transport the prisoner all the way through Port Hanshan without alerting the authorities," Liara commented.
"She's right," Cortez chipped in. "If they realize what we're up to they could use the docking clamps to lock the Normandy in place. Maybe it's best if Joker takes her back into orbit, I can always fly you guys down to the prison in a shuttle."
"Sure if you want to warn all the bad guys that Garrus and his team is coming. Soon as I'm back in orbit I give it two or three minutes tops before I've got Noverian flight control in my ear asking why I haven't departed the planet yet. They get really touchy about ships just hanging around in their airspace for some reason."
Joker's voice came over the comm, just as sarcastic as ever. Obviously thanks to his condition he never attended these meetings in person but EDI had patched him in (possibly more for his benefit than for ours).
"I hate to admit it but he's got a point. Hmm, think you can dodge whatever they send to investigate for a few minutes, Joker?"
"Come on Garrus, I'm offended you even have to ask."
"Okay, we'll start off the mission as if everything is situation normal. The Normandy will be on the ground at first and we'll have to go in with stealth to avoid arousing any suspicions for as long possible."
"Given our track record, I'd imagine that will be about five minutes maximum," Liara commented with a wry smile.
"You could be right Liara, which is why we'll stay in close radio contact with the Normandy so that Joker can take off before they realize they need to lock down the port. Once you're in the air Cortez can deploy in the shuttle to pick us up once we have Anoleis."
"OK that works, but how are we getting into the prison? Looking at these images it doesn't seem like there's a whole lotta ways to sneak in."
"We use the front door obviously," I replied, taking the reins of the meeting for a moment.
"There have to be legitimate reasons for visitors to enter the prison. EDI?"
"Miranda Lawson is correct, in fact, given that he is supposed to be in prisoner ex administrator Anoleis appears to be given access to an inordinate number of personal luxuries, brought in to keep his needs satisfied. Gourmet chefs, personal staff, massage mechs and a wide variety of other-"
She broke off, noticing that we had all started staring at her with growing grins on our faces.
"Is it something I said?" she asked.
-the next day-
"I object to the pink," EDI complained.
"But not the purple," Garrus murmured as we stood back to admire our handiwork. He should have realized however that EDI's audio sensors would be sensitive enough to overhear this.
"The purple appears to be a reasonably pleasing shade, but I find the pink to be... garish."
"Well, the point here is to look cheap, no?"
"I do not understand how the monetary value of this mech will affect our odds of success in this mission, Lieutenant. Perhaps you could clarify your statement for me?"
"Uh - yeah, perhaps another time EDI. I have some weapons inventory I need to take care of."
"On the contrary I believe Lieutenant Cortez has handled this for the last-"
"That's enough EDI. Let the man make a tactical retreat before there's any more damage," Garrus intervened, sounding even more like Shepard as he tried to keep the Normandy madhouse under control. EDI merely nodded in response, to which Vega grinned and left mouthing the words 'Thanks man, I owe you one'.
With the paint job complete and left to dry we began putting on our own disguises, ready for the job ahead.
While the preparations continued apace, Liara pulled me to one side for a moment to have a word.
"Are you certain that you want to take such a pivotal role in the mission Mir- uh Miss Lawson? This is a personal matter for you after all," she asked me, clearly not quite sure what form of address was most appropriate given we didn't know each other particularly well.
"I'm going on the mission so that I can personally ensure its success. It's the least I owe Oriana."
"You can't blame yourself for what has happened to her."
"It goes beyond personal blame. The fact of the matter is that every major disruption to her life has been as a result of her connection to me and my world. She never deserved any of it."
"From what I've heard from Shepard and Garrus, the same could be said of you. Your father is the one that is responsible for all of this misery. From what I've heard about him from my sources, your sister should be grateful that you managed to keep him away from her for so long."
"It's not a topic that I normally discuss with others," I retorted before seeing the look on her face and deciding to soften my approach.
"But thank you for saying that. Your right that Ori has had the normal life I never had a chance at so far. I just want to make sure it continues relatively uninterrupted."
"Given our current circumstances, that's quite an ambition."
I didn't have an answer for that. She was right of course, even if I managed to get Ori back who knew what the rest of her life might be like to the backdrop of this Reaper War? We lapsed into silence for a moment or two before she suddenly broke the silence.
"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
"Why stop delving into my past now?" I asked rhetorically as if it didn't matter to me. It did, but I had a nasty suspicion this was more than just a friendly chat so I played along.
"Did you ever find it difficult to hate your father? I only ask because I had a controlling mother with whom I was estranged for many years in my youth. For a long time, I believed I no longer wanted her to be part of my life but when her death came I was still devastated by it."
I was taken aback by the forthright question. Had I misjudged Liara's interest in my relationship with my family? Still, the answer came easily enough either way.
"No, I can't honestly say that I did. I'm not sure if that makes me a terrible person, but once I understood the full extent of what he had done... Well let's just say I never once thought about reconciliation after that."
"I see. Well, I do genuinely hope we can help reunite you with your sister even if for me the priority of this mission is still about stopping Cerberus."
I understood and said so before politely dismissing her. She went without too much fuss, but I kept my eye on her as I finished my preparations for the mission. As expected, she turned to Garrus and gave him a discrete nod when she thought I wasn't looking.
So, they were checking up on me, wondering if they should pull me away from a mission that they deemed to be too personal for me. That I would have done exactly the same thing in their shoes did little to stem the brief surge of seething rage I felt. How dare they, when I was the one that had brought them the lead that had gotten us this far?
Still, there was no sign that they intended to make further issue out of it as Garrus signaled that it was time to begin the mission. We departed the Normandy together but scattered soon after we entered the main lobby for Port Hanshan. The others all went their own ways in small groups of ones or twos, but I stayed with Garrus, EDI, and Parasini.
We headed on our own toward the main visitor's entrance to the prison that Anoleis was actually being held at (after losing a couple of Noverian agents that had been tailing us). Signing ourselves in we approached the main reception desk to the clear confusion of the officers on duty.
"Stop there," the one at the desk ordered us and we came to a halt.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Special delivery for one of the prisoners," Garrus answered deferentially.
"We were meant to deliver it yesterday but-"
"Prisoner Number?" The guard asked flatly. Well, he wasn't going to let himself be distracted, I had to give him credit for that.
"Anoleis, ZN00065324," I replied smoothly, having memorized all the details from the intel we have taken off Qui'in.
"Yeah? So what's this supposed to be?"
"What's this supposed to be?" Echoed Garrus in mock astonishment.
"Only the most advanced massage mech ever built to date! The LISA XR-3 was developed with the most sophisticated fine motor control system ever built and comes pre-programmed with over one thousand different massage styles and settings drawn from the cultures of almost every known sentient species."
"Except for the Vorcha obviously," I added in at the end, miming scratching claws so they'd get the idea.
"I am here to keep you happy sir," EDI intoned in a bland but pleasing female voice.
"Sure, whatever. Why am I not seeing this delivery on the schedule?"
"Well to be completely honest there was a bit of a mix-up at the warehouse. Our guys mistakenly reported that we'd run out of stock and so we wouldn't be able to get one ordered in until sometime next month. Warden didn't seem very happy about that so when we realized we still had one left they sent us out to rush the order over to you. By way of an apology to our most valued customer."
The two guards turned and looked at each other. As their minds whirred away it was quite possible to actually see what they were thinking. The boss wasn't really known for getting upset (wasn't really necessary in a cushy joint like this). So if he was it was probably because he was about to lose out on some money. If Anoleis was paying a bonus for receiving his new expensive toy on time, then sending us away might cost the warden a lot of money, which in turn could seriously affect their own next payday.
"Alright," the guard at the desk said after a moment's thought.
"We'll get you through weapons scanning and then my colleague will go and call this in."
At this decision, we too exchanged glances but ultimately agreed to step into the scanner one by one.
No alarms sounded and no signs from the guards that they had any cause for concern. In fact, they were so relaxed now that they were starting to get cocky.
"Hey Tucker, maybe we should sample the merchandise before it goes to the inmates," the second guard said to his friend, before slowly running a hand down EDI's side. Its progress was impeded about halfway down when she chose to snap his wrist and then really spoil his day. I had to move fast to grab the other guard's gun and shove it in his face.
As soon as it was clear that we had the situation under control, Garrus took the gun from me and led the other guard away towards the armory and we turned our attention to EDI, who was still looking at the other guard, clutching at his groin in agony.
"Nice work EDI," I commented "But are you alright?"
"Concern for my well being is appreciated but unnecessary. Physical contact with this platform does not cause me to feel disturbed as a human would. Though I still find this man to be repellent."
'You and me both,' I thought to myself before we were interrupted by a shout from the other room. Instinctively we all immediately rushed to see what was wrong, only to find Garrus desperately routing through a weapons locker, his prisoner now conscious and secured behind him. When I asked him what was wrong, he turned around and I swear there were actual tears in his eyes as he reported that there were no sniper rifles available at all.
"I'm sorry for your loss Vakarian, but just we'll have to make do with the available resources."
"I thought this was meant to be a serious military installation. What kind of military doesn't have at least one sniper in their employ? What if the enemy is more than 200 meters out?"
"Garrus?"
"Oh right. OK EDI hook into the computer and start accessing their patrol routes. Soon as we know where they are we can start creating a few diversions to keep the bulk of their forces out of our way. Have to admit I'm really starting to appreciate the benefits of having a mobile AI on our si-"
At that moment what seemed like every single alarm in the complex started going off all at once.