Chapter 12: How Bright Their Frail Deeds: Part I
1.
Thane Krios watched Nos Astra's skyline—the largest on Illium—swallow the planet's sun: it was still hot and, unfortunately, slightly humid, but the temperature of the air was more moderate than it had been hours earlier. A long-range kill wouldn't be out of the question in these conditions, and Nos Astra certainly had enough skyscrapers that Thane could find an adequate sniper's nest—were he inclined to search for one. But Nassana Dantius had, by all accounts, a significant number of armed guards inside her twin-tower complex; and by those very same accounts, she was likely to use them on her employees at a moment's notice…
Early morning—over half a day ago. A Private room in a newly opened café; no other customers, imposing shadows from neighboring skyscrapers throw the entire street into perpetual twilight, A nervous salarian—cognizant of his own fear; wringing his hands together as if friction alone could generate an impenetrable shield around him—a full cup of liquid in front of him that stopped steaming at least an hour ago. His eyes search for movement like he's wounded prey.
"It's…I-I don't know what t-to say. Nobody listens. Nobody believes us. Nobody thinks anyone would do this to their own employees but she's done worse, believe me she's done far, far worse before."
"I've heard as much. One of her sisters contacted me with a similar offer. She spared no detail."
The salarian tries not to show surprise, but he can't help it. Emotion pours from his face like a supernova—fear and surprise, a worry that the contract he's offered won't be accepted, that no other options exist save to remain at the mercy of a madwoman.
"T-they did? Um…h-how much?"
"It wasn't the asking price that made me decline, don't worry. It was the reason behind the contract. I didn't believe—I still don't believe—that someone being a 'black sheep' is sufficient reason to employ me."
"Oh…oh okay um…s-so the um…the e-estimate is…it's all right? The one I've given you."
Hands unfold over the table. Light peaks through, ever so slightly, grazing every empty table in the café; grazing too the face of the owner, who couldn't care less about the meeting going on in her establishment other than she'd wish there were more of them. A neutral face produces a neutral voice; it calms the speaker as much as the listener.
"What you've offered me is fine, but I see no need to accept payment for this. What you're asking me to do has a far deeper value than credits can represent."
"S-sorry um…what?"
"I'll fulfill your contract, and I'll do it for free. You won't have to worry about anything being traced back to you this way, among other reasons."
A flash of panic: he hadn't thought of that. Desperation choked his mind with an acidic fog—all the more reason to insist on performing this act without charge.
"O-okay I…thank you. Thank you. B-but…but I think y-you need to hurry. Um, y'know, p-plan what you need to plan. B-because I don't—I'm not sure—I…I think something bad c-could happen at any moment. The l-longer people are in those buildings t-the more at risk they a-are."
…and now, after as much preparation as Thana could manage, given the time constraints, here he was. The two Dantius Towers—one completed, the other a picked-apart skeleton from floor 200 up—jutted from the ground just across the street from the transport hub. More should be done to prepare—more exercises for the mind to ready the body for what lied ahead—but Thane could see mechs and Eclipse commandoes taking up positions around the complex. The ones inside might already be slaughtering the workers still trapped on-site.
Thane closed his eyes and cupped his hands together.
"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters: Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass…grant me forgiveness."
Some things…could not be forsaken.
2.
Ashley could feel Kaidan basically breathing down her neck and the only reason she wasn't telling him to fuck right off was because she'd snapped at Garrus not five minutes ago, just as him and Tali took Mars and headed for Horizon. She was gonna tell him to fuck right off, though, if he said anything, because she could feel that urge to blame everything that'd happened on everyone else in the universe being unreasonable; even though, no, that was ducking responsibility, and the moment you didn't something like that was the moment you became no better than the fucking politicians.
So trying not to do that was using up all the precious energy she'd otherwise be free to spend on not telling Alenko to fuck right off.
All right, now she could see it in the reflection of some of the merchant stalls leading up to Liara's office: Alenko wanted to say something. So fine, get it over with—I'm already too tired for this shit.
"I know you don't want to talk about what just happened," he said, "so we won't. Yet. At some point, we're gonna have that discussion."
"Consider me on notice, sir."
"And consider me thoroughly done with being the bad guy."
A human woman in a red suit looked at them and then immediately looked away when she saw the look on Ashley's face.
So up the stairs they went to the office of Liara T'Soni, Information Broker. No mention of her academic career; no sign that she'd been drafted into a war against the apocalypse itself by a human ship and her indoctrinated mother. Liara had a plain white office with a plain green potted plant and a plain looking secretary, who told them to go on inside and mind the glare from the setting sun.
They minded the glare and were immediately met with the wide-open arms of Liara.
"Kaiden, Ashley!" Liara said. "By the Goddess, I didn't think I'd ever see you two again!"
"You didn't?" Ashley said, hugging Liara back. "As in, we'd never come visit or…?"
"No reunion party either?" Kaidan said, returning Liara's hug when it was his turn to get squeezed. "Those're a big thing on Earth, y'know. We've got reunion parties for reunions, even."
"I know enough about human culture now to tell when you're lying," Liara said with a smile. "But I also know you're not lying by much."
"Heh, well—not so young and naïve anymore, are you?" Kaidan said.
Liara's face darkened. "We've all had to do quite a bit of growing up as of late, I imagine."
And Kaidan nearly said: Guess Tali's not the only one that could shoot the mood right between the eyes.
Liara stood at her desk and rapped her knuckles against her table. Eventually, after enough rapping to send a dull tingle through her hands and wrists, she looked up towards her assistant and secretary.
"Nyxeris? Do you mind running a quick errand for me?" Liara said.
Nyxeris removed herself from her desk and stood in the doorway. "You mean…can I please go somewhere else so you can talk in private?"
Liara gave Nyxeris a weak smile. "Yes, that's what I'm asking."
A pause, then: "As you wish."
And then Nyxeris was gone, Liara's door closed, and the universe was contained to this small office overlooking a busy Nos Astra market. Kaidan and Ashley watched Liara sit herself down in her chair as she motioned for them to take the two on the other side of her desk. And then they watched her close her eyes and breath, like she as trying to compose herself.
It took a good, long while for her eyes to open up again.
"I think I know why you two are here," Liara said eventually.
Skeptical glances from the Alliance officers.
"You uh…you do, huh?" Kaidan said.
Ashley glanced at the little plaque that said "Information Broker" on Liara's desk. "This's…supposed to be above top-secret. What kind of information network've you got your hands on, exactly?"
A deep breath from Liara. "One that's taken almost every shred of my credibility to build, and one that feels as though it took decades off my life in the process." Liara stared past Kaidan and Ashley, towards the closed and locked door of her office. "Some of what I know is thanks to being in the right place at the right time, but even that took an incredible amount of work to maintain."
"Sounds like you're up there with the Shadow Broker," Ashley said. "Unless you're working with him."
"He considers me a rival, of sorts," Liara said. "For reasons I…can't get into at the moment, unfortunately. Please don't be insulted by that."
"You've uh…you've dodged the question a bit, though," Kaidan said. "Not about the Shadow Broker I mean, I'm talking about uh…well, how you know what we're here for."
"As in," Ashley said, "what exactly d'you think we're here to talk to you about?"
Another, even deeper breath from Liara. And then: "You're here about Shepard." She looked at Ashley. "And you want to know how I could possibly know that she's alive."
Yeah, they'd been dancing around that point—or at least Ashley had, though she guessed by Kaidan's posture and statements and all that that he'd been wondering the same thing on some level, ever since Hackett had said Liara "might know a thing" about Shepard's resurrection. It was hard to picture Hackett keeping secrets, even though he'd sent the Normandy on god-knows how many sensitive missions while they were out hunting for Saren. It seemed even less likely that Liara T'Soni—a woman that, two years ago, was as green as a star was bright—would be keeping secrets…and yet, here they were. Somehow, here they were.
Kaidan was, indeed, having similar thoughts. He was thinking: Two years was all it took for the universe to look completely unrecognizable.
They'd been quiet long enough for Liara to have centred herself again, and she offered her old friends a way out of their own heads.
"I can explain," she said. "I owe you an explanation. I know of a good hotel not far from here; I can pay for a reservation, and we can meet in the morning."
"Morning?" Ashley said.
"Bad night to be talking with us?" Kaidan said.
"I'm sorry," Liara said. "This is…there are so many moving parts, and you should know as much as I can share. Right now, I wouldn't be able to give you my full attention—the full attention this conversation deserves."
Kaidan and Ashley looked at each other. Then they turned their eyes back to Liara.
"We deserve at least to know why you're blowing us off," she said.
Kaidan gave her a look like that wasn't how he'd've phrased it, but Liara seemed to expect the harsh response—yet another thing that didn't mesh with anyone's memories of the young archeologist from two years back.
"That's true," Liara said. She leaned forward in her chair. "Then, to be brief: there's an assassination happening tonight, and I want to stay informed in case I need to send the contract to another operative." Liara got only bewildered stares as a response, so she added: "You two deserved to know."
"You're hiring assassins?" Ashley said.
"No," Liara said. She was still calm, too—like she'd expected this outburst as well. "Someone came to me for information on an assassin—a very good one that could help them out of a very desperate situation. I provided that information, and their reasons for wanting it were good enough that I'm hoping to see the contract fulfilled." More stares. "Like I said: you two deserved to know."
"Who the hell's so bad that you want them killed?" Ashley said. She glanced over at Alenko and saw the look he was giving her and realized, fine, she'd sounded just a tad overly judgmental given the mission they were on at the moment.
Liara smiled but didn't press the issue, even if she'd likely know just as well as either Alliance officer how Ashley was, basically, sending out an invitation for someone to call her out on her hypocrisy.
"Nassana Dantius. You might remember her from a few years ago: she tried to trick Shepard into assassinating her own sisters. She's only grown more paranoid and delusional since then, and her own employees are suffering." Liara glanced at her monitor, saw no updates, returned her attention to her friends. "I wanted a contingency in case the first assassin failed. I try to use my network to save as many lives as a I can…even if it means taking a life every now and again."
Kaidan stared at Ashley; Ashley stared at Kaidan. And, eventually, Ashley let out a sigh.
"Might as well slap a uniform on you then," she said, "because that sounds pretty goddamn familiar."
"Yeah," Kaidan said. "Welcome to the nightmare-dilemma that we live through every day."
Liara kept smiling, but both Kaidan and Ashley could tell that her posture had relaxed. "I appreciate you two understanding. And I promise, tomorrow I'll explain everything. I cancelled my appointments while I was paying for your ship to land."
"Hmm, right, forgot about that," Kaidan said. "We're stuck here anyways until Garrus and Tali bring the ship back, so it's not like the galaxy's rushing ahead without us anyways."
"Garrus and Tali are with you?" Liara said. "That's…I didn't know that."
"Now you do," Ashley said. She didn't mean for it to come out bitter, but it did. It did and…and dammit this whole day was exhausting.
"Yes," Liara said, "now I definitely do."
Ashley stared at her friend who she hadn't seen in two years—two torturously long years where everyone'd been locked in a box and prodded by powerful people, just to see whether they'd scream "REAPER" at inconvenient times—and…and dammit was everything about two years ago just Shepard? Was Shepard the only reason people got along? Yeah she was kind and understanding and she never ruled with an iron-fist, she just set an example and made you want to believe in her while you watched, but it wasn't just her, right? Better that Ashley was just an utter fuck-up when it came to anything besides shooting bastards in the head than the truth of the matter being, without Shepard, nothing good could come out of this universe.
Right? Better one than the other?
What'd help, probably, would be if Alenko offered to go after this Nassana person too—be the back-up that Liara needed. It'd be for a good cause and, yeah, and maybe it'd help show Liara better than words could that there was still trust here, that they hadn't forgotten about all the flaming hoops Shepard's crew jumped through together. Talk was cheap; action spoke volumes; if Kaidan just suggested they do that, it'd say a lot, wouldn't it?
Hell, why wait on Kaidan?
"This Nassana—she's bad, is what you're saying," Ashley said.
Liara (and Kaidan) gave Ashley a confused looked. Eventually Liara said, "She is. She's notorious. Even here on Illium, you would have expected someone to come forward to either the Trade or Security Bureau. But she either has people too afraid or the amount of positive attention her company brings to this world is enough to make people look the other way."
"And so the people in stomping distance don't have any other choice."
"Regrettably. You two were right, earlier—I've told myself that this is not dissimilar to what you and Shepard do."
"Then we might as well be the back-up you're looking for," Ashley said. She turned to Kaidan. "Nothing better to do right now, right?"
Kaidan's brow was raised, but he nodded his head. "I think we've got time to squeeze in a favour."
"All right," Ashley said. "So tell us where to go and we'll get going. You don't have to worry about forking over more credits to guns-for-hire."
"That would be appreciated," Liara said with a (noticeably weary) smile. "Not so much the credits—I'd appreciate having people I know I can trust seeing this through, should the worst happen."
"That's us," Kaidan said. When Ashley started to rise, he did too.
"Feel free to get the hotel ready for us," Ashley said. "A fresh bed sounds nice right about now—can't imagine how it'll feel after we throw Nassana out her window."
"We could have our conversation when you get back," Liara said, "since my mind will be a lot freer once this is over."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Ashley said. And she ignored the look Kaidan gave her, like he was surprised she didn't jump at the opportunity.
Guess that's another person she needed to make sure still trusted her, on top of everything else. One thing at a time, though—gotta go one thing at a time.
Liara gave them all the information she had (go to the nearest port, grab a skycar to Dantius Towers, and please, don't announce your arrival right away) and then Kaidan and Ashley were off to find one Thane Krios.
Ashley wasn't sure if she'd evened things out and restored balance to her little universe of interpersonal relations—and she wasn't sure if some secret hope that Liara would bump up her timetable had been the real reason she'd offered to back-up whatever assassin Liara had helped—but she hoped things would settle back into the norm. She hoped things would run like they had before, when Shepard wrangled everyone together and made things stick. God did she hope that…
And Kaidan? Kaidan mentally regarded the Alliance Dress Blues and the officer stripes that would adorn the shoulders, and he thought about how he was under as much external pressure to act like a leader as when he was just a lowly Lieutenant.
Thinking about it, he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not—and since you'd expect an O-4 to care about whether people were pressuring him to act like a leader, Kaidan wasn't sure if not being sure was a good thing too.
"You all right?" he heard Ashley ask.
"Yeah," he said back. "Just a headache on the horizon."
3.
The woman in the red dress that'd seen the two Alliance Officers head up the steps not long ago watched an asari woman descend those very same stairs, and boy did she look nervous about something. She had her omni-tool out and was whispering things about "being found out" and her "cover being blown" and then insisting that she switch to written messages since there were ears everywhere. Sloppy undercover work, if that's what she was doing, but what the hell: she worked for an information broker (who's name sounded damn familiar, come to think of it) so this was probably normal. It was normal on Noveria at least, and Illium was overtly controlled by corporations just like Noveria was, so might as well assume it was standard operating procedure here too.
When those same Alliance Officers came back down to the market, the woman watched the asari tense up and do her best to not look conspicuous—another rookie mistake. And a stupid one too: it's not like someone would hire Alliance marines for an assassination mission, so all she was doing was drawing attention to herself.
Then another group of humans came along—dressed in black and gold uniforms, except for the bald one, who was dressed mostly in tattoos—and that asari who was doing a dog-shit job of blending in practically leapt off her chair and booked it out of the market. Those other humans ascended the same stairs as the Alliance officers and, all right, yeah, now she was interested. Now she was very interested.
"Goddammit," Gianna Parasini said. She glared at the asari smuggler she was after, Hermia, who luckily still had her back turned to the table that Gianna was sitting at. "You could at least make this whole smuggling thing a bit more interesting."
4.
Miranda, Jacob, and Jack exited the Widowmaker (down a significant number of credits in the process, of course; Miranda made a note to add "credits for extortionate parking fees" to the list of resources she'd need from The Illusive Man) and walked into the Nos Astra market. Liara T'Soni's office overlooked this area, so it shouldn't be hard to find. That was good: the sooner they acquired Thane Krios and the Justicar, the sooner Miranda could check in on Professor Solus and see what he'd discovered. Damn well had better be something: who knew when they'd have to confront the Collectors.
"All right, you two have fun," Jack said as she peeled away from the Cerberus operatives. "Hit someone good with a singularity for me."
"Excuse me?" Miranda said. She stopped walking; Jacob stopped walking; Jack turned around with a smirk the size of the Horse Head Nebula.
"What? You don't know how to do a singularity? Pick me up something nice from one of these kiosks and I'll teach you."
"You're a part of this away team," Miranda said. "The implication of that is, you'll stay with us."
"Uh, trust me princess—I don't do 'teams'. You really miss me? Beat someone to death with their own arm. It'll be like I never left."
Miranda crossed her arms. "This is non-negotiable."
"Everything's negotiable—you don't wanna see me throw a hissy fit."
"Miranda," Jacob said, "just let her go. You heard her—she's not a team player."
"Listen to the boy scout," Jack said. "Even if he's just trying to insult me, he's still right."
Miranda tried to stare Jack down and, when that didn't work, she maintained as rigid of a posture as possible—even though all she wanted to do was sigh and rub the bridge of her nose.
"Fine," Miranda said. "Stay close to the ship, though. We'll contact you when we're done."
"Can't wait ta hear all about it," Jack said. She spun on her heel and gave an asari that was checking her out a licentious grin.
"And stay out of trouble!" Miranda said.
"Yeah yeah, pinky promise and cross my wittle-heart, Mom," Jack said, already basically out of earshot. She flipped the bird for good measure and then, despite wearing little more than tattoos, disappeared into the crowd.
Miranda and Jacob kept on staring in Jack's general direction until their brains both told them to keep moving.
"She'd better come back," Miranda said.
"You promised her dirt on Cerberus," Jacob said. "For some reason. She'll be back just in time to rip our spines out."
"If everyone follows protocol, we'll be fine."
"And if we lived here, we'd be home by now."
"Your job's not to be cynical, Jacob—now c'mon." Miranda started walking and, after a bit of hesitation, Jacob followed. "Besides, she won't find anything—that program was shut down decades ago. If she does find something, then whatever's left deserves what she puts them through."
"So you do have a heart."
"Everything I do, I do for a reason. You should know that."
"Yeah, sure—but caring and doing something for a reason aren't different things."
"Your truism is duly noted, Jacob."
Miranda ignored any looks that Jacob might be giving her (and the prying eyes of a human woman in a red dress) and ascended the stairs to Dr. T'Soni's office. Or, as she noticed, simply Liara T'Soni's office: there was no mention of her degrees or anything to suggest that she was the daughter of a powerful, and now either reviled or pitied Matriarch. Liara had tried to rehabilitate her mother's reputation, which was…admirable. But naturally, the Council's refusal to acknowledge the Reaper threat meant no such rehabilitation was possible, not without suggesting that an asari Matriarch could be deluded by a turian soldier—elite agent or not. Maybe Liara would be open with her information, then; maybe Liara would understand why organizations like Cerberus existed, given the ignorance that no doubt hit so very close to home.
"You!"
Miranda heard the snarl before she even made eye contact with Dr. T'Soni. When Miranda did make eye contact with Dr. T'Soni, the asari woman was cloaked in purple energy and carrying a look of pure disgust on her face.
"Great," Jacob said. Miranda turned around and saw that he'd drawn his shotgun. "Bet this is a fun story."
"Jacob, put your bloody gun aw—"
"Haven't you people done enough?" Liara's body was crackling with dark energy now. "Haven't you people caused ENOUGH suffering?"
"Yep," Jacob said. "Real fun story."
It took Miranda a second to put the pieces together that, yes, it was Liara who'd recovered Shepard's body for Cerberus; and if she was as good an information broker as The Illusive Man said, then it was highly likely that she knew about—
Ah.
In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that Jack was off on her own.
"Dr. T'Soni, please, we don't need to resort to violence."
"The things I've thought about doing to you—the NIGHTMARES I've wanted to put you through—ever since I found out Shepard's alive, ever since I found out what she's BECOME—would make even the REAPERS shudder."
"Jesus," Jacob said. He lowered his gun but he didn't put it away. "Miranda, you'd better fill in the gaps for me, because I don't understand what the hell is going on."
Miranda, calmly and collectedly, turned to address Jacob. If Liara was going to attack, she would've already attacked—no use in making her think that she had the upper hand in negotiations.
"Dr. T'Soni recovered Shepard's body for us. I assume she knows, then, about the accident that—"
"I know that you made her a MONSTER." Tears were coming down Liara's cheeks now, backlit by the purple glow of her biotics. "Freedom's Progress, all the carnage on Omega—and now I'm being told that Kaidan and Ashley are tracking her down so they can KILL her! You made me complicit in so much suffering—you made me complicit in the utter VIOLATION of Shepard's very BEING—and now you're here, standing in MY office, like none of that even MATTERS!"
"Shit," Jacob said, "that's what they were doing? They're trying to assassinate Shepard?"
"It makes sense, Jacob, now please be quiet." Miranda's posture still hadn't changed. "You're angry, and I understand. But—"
"You can't possibly understand."
"—I can," Miranda said, "but you have to believe me when I say: none of this was intended. We attempted to bring back Shepard as she was, but someone sabotaged the Lazarus Project. What you're seeing—"
"Who?" Liara said, still glowing, still crying. "Who could be close enough to do that? Someone in Cerberus? One of your own people? Every moral fibre I used to have told me not to trust you. So accident or not," she took a step forward; instinctively, both Miranda and Jacob took a step back, "I'm still staring at grave robbers. I'm still staring at…at heartless bastards. I am still staring at rapists!" Yet another step closer. "And there is no reason I can think of why I shouldn't flay you alive—with my mind."
"It was the Shadow Broker," Miranda said—still calm, even though she'd taken a step back. "One of our medical technicians—Wilson—he was in the employ of the Shadow Broker. For reasons we still can't ascertain, the Shadow Broker wanted Shepard to stay dead." A pause, and Miranda couldn't help but clench her fist until she could feel her nails press through the fabric of her uniform. "Everything you've heard about Shepard is a direct result of Wilson's interference—of the Shadow Broker's interference. It wasn't Cerberus who did this."
Liara stared and stared and stared right through them. It was like her anger had been sucked out of the room, aimed at something else entirely—something neither Jacob nor Miranda could see. After seconds that felt like centuries, Liara's biotic glow dissipated. Her anger, though, surely did not.
"You're lying," Liara said.
"I get why you'd think that," Jacob said. "But trust me—she's not."
"Thank you, Jacob," Miranda said.
"The Shadow Broker is the reason for all of this?"
"If not for his or her or their interference, I'm reasonably confident that Shepard—the real Shepard—would be back." Miranda paused again and considered a foreign thought that hadn't entered her head before, but it was a thought that barreled forward with such intensity that you would think Miranda had realized this the moment she awoke on the shuttle out of Lazarus Station. "In that case, she'd be the one talking to you now, asking for your help to save the human race."
Jacob stayed silent. Liara looked like she was running things through in her head just like Miranda had.
Miranda didn't believe in luck, but a bit of a break would be welcome right now, all things considered.
Then, Miranda saw Liara's anger disappear.
"The reports…they've been…never mind. Your mission hasn't changed, then? This mission with the colonies—with the creatures that killed Shepard in the first place—it hasn't changed?"
"We're still after the Collectors," Jacob said. "Always have been. Err, once we figured out it was them abducting everyone." He turned to Miranda. "That's what she's talking about, right?"
"She is," Miranda said. "If you're willing to still help us, we need information—and that's all. No further commitments from you; we don't need you to risk anything else on our behalf. Not this time."
More silence. Then, Liara let out a sign and, with a tired and defeated posture, said: "What do you need?"
"We're looking for an assassin and an asari Justicar," Miranda said. "My guess is that you know the Justicar already—the assassin's name is Thane Krios."
Miranda thought she detected something in the expression that Dr. T'Soni wore, but whatever it was, it disappeared before Miranda could double check.
"Samara," Liara said. "She's the Justicar. Yes, I know where she is." She paused. "Thane I'm not sure—I'd have to check in with my contacts, though if you're sure he's on Illium then that might help shorten the search. I'll still need the evening to make sure, however."
"That's fine," Jacob said. "We go, grab Samara, come back, and hopefully you've got something."
"Agreed," Miranda said. "Tell us where to go to find Samara, and we'll rendezvous back here when we're done."
Liara told them what she knew—that Samara was last seen in an Eclipse-controlled district not far from the Nos Astra stock exchange—and, if they wanted to find a skycar, Liara could inform the district Captain that two outsiders were coming over to help "defuse the situation." She also explained what that meant: Justicars aren't very welcome on Illium legally speaking, as much a cultural institution as they might be, so the police would no doubt be more than happy to have assistance. Be prepared for that was her parting bit of advice.
When Miranda and Jacob had left, Liara collapsed into her chair and fought off yet more tears. If Miranda and Jacob were telling the truth then…then everything changed. Absolutely everything had changed from her original plans.
She hoped she'd at least bought Kaidan and Ashley some time to finish what they needed, and for Liara to gather what they might need. And in the meantime, she could decide whether she really wanted to help Kaidan and Ashley at all, regardless of what Admiral Hackett had told her, if they were truly here only to clean up the cosmic mess that she had created by killing the person she had tried to save.
Either way, the Shadow Broker's death become longer and more protracted by the day. That, if nothing else, was clear to Liara. That if nothing else…
5.
Everybody was too fucking close together. Yeah yeah Jack'd just been in a literal deepfreeze for however long, but she wasn't conscious when she was in the deepfreeze. As claustrophobic as it'd be to find yourself in a cold fucking coffin, Jack didn't know she was in a cold fucking coffin. She couldn't tell that she was in a cold fucking coffin. Until the princess with the leather pants unfroze her, she'd been blissfully a whole lot of nothing. And you know what's best about being nothing? No memories. So instead of the usual nightmares she got from all those years ago, from those fucking torture fetishists and their—their fucking constant needles and tests and scalpels and everything, Jack didn't have any of that. It was pure peaceful bliss—it was fucking Nirvana.
Now she was out and everyone was too fucking close. Jesus Christ, it was nice on the ship 'cause she just got to hide under the stairs in engineering (yeah, hiding, I fucking said it; not so tough are you, are you? Just a scared little girl and everybody who gets within fucking distance without their heads being torn off is gonna know, so watch it), but out here? Shit, it's like everyone was wearing magnets.
"Sorry ma'am," a volus said as he bumped against her leg.
Jack just kept walking but she had thought about ripping open his suit and seeing what happened. Shit, she needed more of those files that Miranda promised her. Apparently this outfit did a job for a Cerberus front company once and EDI, being fucking God or something, could back-trace through the paystubs or whatever the fuck and get into Cerberus's systems. Or some of their systems anyways. Jack had gotten her hands on a few things and this'd focused her on the trip to Illium, but Christ she needed more. Those fuckers were out there, and they deserved everything that was coming to them.
Jack kept wandering and wandering and eventually ended up far away from the Nos Astra space port that they'd docked in. Signs said there was a bar around here, so hell, why not get shitfaced? Asari booze was pretty damn good, and hey, Miranda said don't get into trouble, right? Well Jack got into way less fucking trouble when she was drunk than when she was sober. She blew up space stations when she was sober.
She passed some terminals and some monitors and a whole bunch of boring shit until she finally found a sign that said "ETERNITY: THIS WAY." Eternity better mean unlimited drinks then, 'cause calling a place that name only to cut off the customers once they finally started to feel numb was a great way to get a biotic punch in the nads. It'd happened before—that's what got her in enough debt to take that stupid space station mission in the first place.
Jack was so close to Eternity that she could taste the Asari Honey Mead when a fucking person with a fucking working mouth fucking waved her down and acted like Jack owed her a fucking favour.
"Hey—hey you. Yeah you," the asari woman said. "Over here."
Jack balled up her fist. "You always this fucking rude to people, you stupid bitch?"
"Yeah, nice language honey," the asari said. "You look like you're doing experimental theatre, so if you're with the other costumed idiot, then find another bar."
"Seriously? Ask yourself this really fucking carefully: does this actually look like a costume to you?" She rubbed one of her arms until the skin turned rosy. "These are fucking permanent."
The asari woman looked like she was going to say something that'd get her into serious trouble, but luckily for her she bit her tongue at the last second. "Fine," she said eventually. "Whatever. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt even though you've got murder eyes. But stay out of trouble—I've already got one crazy human I've gotta deal with."
Jack laughed—and made sure the asari woman (bar owner, apparently, which would make pissing her off all the more fun if she did limit the number of drinks per customer) heard it loud and clear as she walked by. "Or maybe I'll do whatever the fuck I want? I've got murder eyes, don't I?"
Jack heard the woman mutter something about some Aethyta keeping her in line if she stepped out of it, but seriously? Threats? C'mon—nobody could be stupid enough to think threats worked on her (she'd keep "murder eyes" for a rainy day, though: hadn't been called that before and she could definitely spin that next time she got into a jam). So into Eternity she went, ready to get loaded and maybe have some fun with a stripper, if Miranda wasn't planning on babying her by checking in or something.
The moment she stepped into the bar, though, she could tell what the owner was talking about. Some blonde idiot in Alliance armour—N7 armour by the looks of it, which meant it was given to tougher looking people than the guy wearing it—was at the bar, badgering the bartender. Bartenders were off limits, so yeah, maybe Jack actually would do something about the clown in the costume. If nothing else, he was holding up the damn line, and that was enough to deserve a biotic punch to the back of the head.
"I'm Commander Shepard's squad mate," the blonde idiot was saying as Jack got closer. "Practically her second in command! You don't wanna mess with me."
"Uh-huh," the bartender said.
"That's right! Anybody messes with me, and they've gotta answer to Commander Shepard herself!"
"Uh-huh," the bartender said again. "So you've got a…what. What're those boards you humans use to talk to dead people? You've got one of those?"
"Hey, Shepard's not dead—it's a deep cover operation." The blonde idiot looked around hurriedly and then put a finger to his lips like he was a librarian. "But don't go spreading that around."
"Uh-huh," the bartender said.
Damn, was this guy playing a bit? If he was then he was fucking committed, give him that much. Still, badgering a bartender wasn't gonna fly…though she could probably find some trouble if she played along, couldn't she? Fuck it, long as she didn't blow up a building or something, Miranda wouldn't know—and even if she did, what the fuck was she gonna do about it? She needed Jack, otherwise she would've spaced her the moment she started making demands. Whatever this outfit was, it needed a powerful biotic—so guess who had all the cards, princess? Guess who had all the fucking cards.
"Hey, armoured guy," Jack said. The blonde idiot spun around and the bartender continued to look utterly and completely done with everything.
"Uh, y-yeah?" the blonde idiot said. "W-who are you?"
"What, you don't recognize me?" Jack said.
"You know this idiot?" the bartender said. "if you do, reign him in before I slap his ass with a singularity."
"I-I don't—"
"Yeah, I know him," Jack said. "Total loose cannon—plays by his own rules. Did all the dirty stuff that Shepard couldn't do, know what I'm saying?"
"Uh-huh," the bartender said. She still looked done with everything—probably a really good bartender then, if that was her attitude to life. "Look, they don't like me killing customers and I'm not in the mood to look for a new job, so do us all a favour and take this moron somewhere else? Preferably somewhere with no air?"
Jack grabbed the idiot's arm and started tugging. "Yeah, you got it. I'll calm my associate down."
"Y-your…associate?" the idiot said.
"Yeah! We're with the Alliance…Rangers, or whatever. Deep undercover stuff. Except for this guy—Shepard loved him for his…bluntness."
"She did?" the idiot said.
"Great. Spread his bluntness around, then. I've had enough for today."
"You got it boss," Jack said. She flashed the bartender a cheeky grin. "Keep up the good work though."
"Uh-huh," the bartender said.
The blonde idiot didn't resist much, which was good, so Jack pulled him towards the entrance and then gave him a once over. The armour didn't look too bad but you could tell it'd dissolve if it started raining, so they guy was either brave enough to risk getting shot while wearing a fucking suit made outta paper bags, or he was an idiot. Or both.
"Hey um so…a-are the Alliance Rangers a real unit? Because if they are then I think I have exactly what you're looking for in a Ranger and—"
"Yeah sure you're hired," Jack said.
"Really? Just like that?"
"What, you don't want the job?"
"No no I'm good! Happy to be aboard, ma'am!"
"Yeah uh…at ease." Jack crossed her arms and gave the idiot a shit-eating grin. "So…what kinda trouble you getting yourself into?"
The idiot scratched his head. "Trouble?"
"What're you doing."
"Oh. Oh! I was trying to get the deed to this place. It's actually a front for red sand dealers—an undercover cop told me!"
"Did one now…" Jack tapped her chin. "Well, hey, why don't ya take me to your contact, and we can figure out our next move?"
"Good idea! Um…whoever you are." The idiot scratched his head again. "Who are you exactly?"
"Name's Jack. I make people blow up for the greater good. Who the hell are you?"
"Oh, Conrad! Conrad Verner." Conrad leaned in real close. "I'm not actually a squad mate of Commander Shepard. I know her though! Or…I did. Until she died."
"Yeah, tragic loss. Still remember where I was the day it happened. All right, let's go find this cop and then figure out what kinda fun we're gonna have."
"Yeah! Um…fun?"
But Jack was already pulling Conrad out of the bar and past the owner, who got a nice middle finger to commemorate the five-minute anniversary of their first meeting.
And Jack wore a shit-eating grin from the doors of the bar all the way to the markets. The nice thing about just looking to kill time? You never knew what kind of mess you'd drop into, but you always knew you could make it more interesting when you got there.
6.
"You see anything suspicious?"
Ashley adjusted the scope of her sniper rifle, which she'd yanked off from the rifle itself and converted into a telescope of sorts. She also adjusted her position by standing a bit closer to the edge of the dumpster she was on, since it was either that or risk breaking Alenko's shoulders.
"I'm seeing mechs, Eclipse, and manhandled employees—in decreasing order."
"Manhandled? But they're alive, at least?"
"For now, yeah-looks like it." Ashley adjusted her footing again so she could peer over a particularly tall asari woman that was walking across the street. The transport hub they were at was elevated, but enough people were crossing the road in front of the tower complex that her view was far from perfect. "This tower's the one that's under construction still, right? So if she's planning on just executing people in the lobby, everyone'd hear."
"I get the feeling that Nassana doesn't really care about that," Kaidan said.
Ashley looked at the massive towers and digital signs in bright neon with Nassana's face plastered on them, and she could just feel all the wealth that they symbolized. "Something she shares with the rest of Nos Astra, by the looks of it."
Ashley hopped off the dumpster and placed her scope back on her sniper rifle. Lot's more guns this time—better to have them and not need them sort of thing, given what happened on Omega. Kaidan stopped scanning around for people that might decide to take a smoke break at the rear of the hub's main terminal and took in the sights of Dantius Towers himself. Out of all the unique architectural structures in Nos Astra, Nassana's towers looked the most like someone had slapped together some stock photos from the extranet and called it a day. Rushed delivery, that was probably the order; make me noticeable ASAP or…well based on what they'd heard of her, do that or get gutted at your desk, more or less.
"I'm thinking we need to get our hands on a radio," Kaidan said.
"I'm with you there," Ashley said. "Second question is: when we get one, are we getting involved right away? Or waiting until something goes wrong."
"How many guards did you see?"
Ashley looked back at the towers, did the math on how many floors they might be. "A lot. This Thane guy, he might be the best shot in the galaxy, but once he takes it, the whole block is gonna be crawling with yellow uniforms and robots."
Kaidan looked at the surrounding skyscrapers. "Any idea where he might set up shop?"
Ashley looked too. "No idea. Don't know the lay of the land well enough." She went back to staring at the lobby. "If we head in, we might mess up Thane's plans. 'Course if we don't then she might just start killing people before he takes the shot. And if he misses…"
"Then Liara's gonna be pissed for wasting all those credits."
Ashley sighed. "Yeah, or…whatever the hell she did to set this up. Trade favours or info or I don't know. This whole thing feels wrong. Since when does Liara work with assassins?"
Kaidan looked at his boots, chose his words as careful as he could. "I've been…asking myself that too. Doesn't seem like the Liara we knew."
"Yeah," Ashley said. "And, I get it, I was hard on her back there—Garrus, we'll talk about later; but yeah, I know I was hard on Liara too—it's just…God, the things she knows now…"
"She's been through a lot," Kaidan said. "Losing her mother and everything—that'll change you. And after we lost Shepard, well…things like that can dogpile on you."
"I get that…I get that." Ashley looked Kaidan directly in the eyes, which was…not something she normally did. "Be honest with me: everything's unraveled since she died, hasn't it?"
Kaidan blinked. "I…don't know. What d'you mean by 'unraveled'? Like they've changed?"
"No, I mean: unraveled. It's broken. Everything from…from the Alliance to the team to—to all of that. When Shepard died, she took all that stuff with her too, didn't she?"
Kaidan blinked again—blinked and squinted, because Christ the sun was in a bad spot. Namely: it was shining right when an innocent marine was suffering through a migraine.
"Hey, Alenko—you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah," Kaidan said, blinking hard again. "Fine just…I'm fine. I'm sure of that. Not sure about anything else—including what you're asking. The world's moving fast, Ash, and up until…God, however long it's been since we got roped into all this, I thought I was keeping pace." He looked up into the sky. "Not so sure I am, now."
"I get that," Ashley said.
"Thanks," Kaidan said. "Glad that I didn't bungle that sentence. Guess you'd know what I was talking about though, wouldn't you?"
"Wish I could say the same for you. I'm getting really tired of not having answers. I...okay, I meant that in...that's directed at the universe at large, not at you specifically."
Kaidan shrugged, took another look at the lobby and, blinking away the flashing sparks in his vision, he motioned for Ashley to lead the way. "Well," he said, "we can start with getting a radio. Right?"
Ashley nodded and gave Kaidan a small smile. "Aye aye, Skipper. We're gonna look pretty stupid trying to cross the street in full armour, though."
"We can't be the weirdest thing these people've seen," Kaidan said. "That sign over there is talking about an aphrodisiac that's 'guaranteed' to make you need a doctor."
"The miracles of modern medicine," Ashley said.
Despite what Kaidan said, they did look pretty stupid crossing the street in full armour—or at least, that's what they gathered from all the looks they were getting. They took a very, very out-of-the-way route to the main lobby, though, and managed to get to the doors without anyone noticing them—especially the lone guard posted out front that didn't look like an Eclipse merc, but then again could've just been an Eclipse merc in plain clothes. She'd do…but it might also be pretty obvious that she was missing if they took her out and nabbed her radio.
Luckily, Kaidan could hack into the connection with his omni-tool. He'd just need to get as close as possible to have the best chance at bypassing all the firewalls the guard's own omni-tool likely had.
So Kaidan and Ashley spent a good ten minutes squatting in a bush, not three feet away from a guard that apparently had a million things to say about everyone that passed by the towers ("Oh. Oh—yeah, just my shade of purple…"), with Kaidan's arm practically being smothered by Ashley's body to keep the orange glow from being noticeable. All in all, it was as comfortable as being hit on by your cousin.
But eventually Kaidan got through, and as quickly as they could, Kaidan and Ashley hurried back through the out-of-the-way route and, instead of crossing the street, duked into an alleyway. Mostly foot traffic on the streets rather than cars, thanks to the lose restrictions on where air-lanes could form, so as the sun began to fully disappear, the two Alliance officers let the darkness hide them from the Nos Astra nightlife.
"Good to take a peek?" Ashley said.
"All good. Just synching our omni-tools up and…yeah, there we go. We're now inside the system—fear me, mortals, for I am listening."
With sound as crisp as glacier water, Kaidan and Ashley heard the voice of Nassana Dantius. The high-quality audio really helped emphasize just how fucking insane she sounded.
"All right, would-be assassins, mercenaries, union organizers, pirates, thieves, parasites, abominations—whatever. If you're listening to either a radio you've stolen or the PA system of my towers, then I'm happy to inform you that I'm prepared for you. I always am; I always will be. By the Goddess, no mortal can touch me."
"Shit, does she know we're here?" Ashley said.
"God, has she been listening to us?" Kaidan said.
"Same deal as last night, the night before, and the five nights before that—whether any of you have actually tried to poke your heads where they don't belong or not. My employees will be held at gunpoint until I'm assured that every inch of this building is empty except for MY people. If even ONE THING is off, one of them will die. If I suspect you're not getting the message, TWO will die. If I FEEL like I'm being threatened by someone who's too cowardly to take me on directly, then HOWEVER MANY I WANT will die. If you don't care about the lives of any of these people, then that's fine too—this message is for anyone who might thinking spending the money I give them on an ASSASSIN is a good idea, too."
Nassana's voice gave way to the chatter of an Eclipse merc and, if Kaidan and Ashley had to guess, one of the employees they were holding hostage.
"Gah, fuck me—Nassana, can you send more people to the lobby? Your fucking employees are—STOP BITING ME ASSHOLE!"
"YOU WANT AN ASSASSIN? WE DIDN'T! WE DIDN'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH ASSASSINS! BUT YOU PUT THE IDEA IN OUR HEADS SO TURN ABOUT IS FAIR PLAY, NASSANA! YOU STEAL OUR IDEAS AND WE'LL STEAL YOURS YOU HEARTLESS BIT—"
"Fuck me can we get some support? I think they're gonna cha—GET DOWN!"
There was a shot, and then a siren, and on complete reflex, Kaidan and Ashley started booking it towards the towers. The guard at the front was halfway across the street and gunfire could be heard from outside the buildings—not a lot but enough to get both Marines' adrenaline flowing steady.
"Did the Thane just open fire?" Kaidan said.
"Why the hell would he be inside? Since when do assassin's protect people?"
Well, Alliance soldiers did. Or, at least, these two soldiers did—they had their guns out already and we're in breaching position.
"Ready," Ashley said.
"Ready," Kaidan said.
They burst through the door and Ashley told herself that she'd have to thank Liara for giving her something to do—something that she was actually good at. Made you wonder what Garrus and Tali were doing and if all this ended up being was a pleasure call to an old friend...and old friend that hired assassins to go after crazy businesswomen.
"Two right, LOKI mechs," Ashley said, and as her gun recoiled, her mind was pulled back to the crazy, fucked up world that she was, apparently, trapped in.
Hey everyone, sorry for the delay. Life, y'know. It does that sometimes.
Anyways, here's Chapter 12, so named from Dylan Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" (though if I'm being honest, the thing that I had on my mind when the title was being typed out was the subtitle to Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #50, since I love that damn series with all my heart and soul).
Jotunquid had a good comment about how both Kaidan and Ashley really didn't display any leadership skills in the previous chapter, which I thought was a great observation. So that informed some of the discussions they had here - though I ain't in control of any of these folks so they say what they want to say. That rest is all on them.
And uhhhh yeah, that's about it. Short note again, god bless brevity. Which, speaking of, is one reason why I cut this chapter off here. I don't think a 20,000 word chapter is fun to read (not sure if this chapter would've ended up being a full 20,000, but you never know), so apologies for the cliffhanger.
Could be worse, though. The whole thing could've been written in comic sans.