"Viridian!" We found her in the Presidium Tower, and she seemed like a fish out of water. "I was looking for you."
"You could have just sent me a message." I reminded her, bemused.
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
"I was coming to see how your story was coming along, but it sounds like you have something to talk to me about."
"Oh, the story is with the producers and editors right now. The new story I'm working on is what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. I'm investigating traffic controller conditions now, and I was wondering if you could help."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Oh, thank you so much! I knew I could count on you!"
"Of course." I laughed at how excited she was.
"I've heard rumors that the space traffic controllers are overworked to a dangerous degree. But I can't get into the control room."
"That's where I come in. You need a bug placed? Information from their terminals?"
"Just a bug. That would be wonderful."
Garrus spoke from behind me, stepping around so he was at my side. "What will the bug allow you to pick up on?"
I could understand why he was questioning it, he had been C-Sec, after all.
"Just audio and video. I'm not trying to tap into the traffic control system, if that's what you're worried about." She addressed him directly, unlike how Helena had responded only to me, as if I had been the one asking. "I just need to hear and see them in order to correlate their activity with traffic efficiency."
"Do you have a bug, or do you need me to provide one?"
"I have one. Here." She handed it over. "Just place it on a terminal with a good view of the area. Thank you again, Viridian. In the long run, this story is going to save lives."
We went there straight away, the three of them waiting down in C-Sec's lobby while I went up to the control room and planted the bug.
Rejoining them, I typed up a quick message to her, letting her know it was done. She thanked me profusely and wired the credits to my account directly. Afterward, I opened comms with the rest of the team and let them know we were heading back to the ship, to get back when they were done with whatever they were doing.
One by one, they all came back within a couple hours of my call.
Place chosen on the map, I went down to the cargo hold and checked over my weapons again, as I always tried to do, at least once a day. I'd seen more than enough guns malfunction or even explode, simply because no one bothered to take care of their weapons.
Once on the planet's surface, I left them and the mako out of sight, cloaking and making my way to the facility on foot. Turning on my camera when it came into view, I waited for one of the mercs to head inside, following. A shadow to her. Pulling my sniper free, I took the first shot. Immediately, they all turned toward her, firing. Smiling to myself, I darted out of the way. Taking advantage of the situation, I danced around the room, ducking behind people to kill another. Half of it was just watching them take each other down.
"Remind me to never get on her bad side." Ashley commented as the last body hit the floor.
Well, the last until I made my way upstairs and found Dahlia calling for an evac immediately. Frantically. Practically screeching with her need to escape.
Pressing my pistol against her abdomen, I revealed myself. She looked at me with wide, wild eyes.
"Dahlia." I murmured. "Your sister sends her regards."
She went limp against me, eyes rolling back. Her body slid against mine until she was crumpled on the floor.
"Heh. That's Shepard, for you." Wrex came over the line.
"That was..."
"A little traumatic?" Tali added onto Liara's thought.
"Yes."
I went to the room at the end of the hall, hacked my way into the consoles there. Found some information on their dealings with the Eclipse Sisters and the Blue Suns. Interesting enough to file away for later. Along with a message from Dahlia's sister that she'd become an embarrassment and that certain steps needed to be taken to rectify that. The certain steps meaning me.
Typing out a message that I wanted to meet the next time I was on the Citadel to Nassana, I called over comms. "Relax. She was dealing with slave-trading. I already knew about this gang. Not that it was Nassana's sister running the whole operation, but I'd heard a few things here and there about them."
"Why didn't you deal with them before this?"
"Why doesn't anyone kill merc bands?" I countered Alenko, jogging down the stairs and toward the exit. "Either not enough time, not enough money involved, or they're useful."
"Which are you?"
Oh, he's got teeth. I grinned, stepping out into the open air.
"Not enough time. I ran with a Spectre, remember?"
"And you never used your choice card for that?"
Opening the driver's side door of the mako, I climbed into behind the wheel. "There was always something bigger or more immediate at hand." A shrug. "Sometimes, you have to choose your battles. Besides, I'm not the only one out in space. Everything can't be on one person's shoulders. Anyway." I began, changing the subject, as I drove us to a small flat area for the Normandy to pick us up. "We're going to Feros next."
"You decided already?" Tali asked from the back row of seats.
"I had my omni-tool roll a die."
"You left it up to chance?"
"Yep." And that was all I said on the matter.
When we were safely within the ship again, I went up to the CIC to have us head toward Feros.
...
"Well, this all seems normal." Garrus commented, voice low.
I'd opted to bring only him, Liara, and Kaidan along. With the duo's biotics, taking out the geth standing between us and Zhu's Hope was a piece of cake.
"Yeah, everyone's acting a little off." Our human companion added.
"Probably have a few secrets they're hiding here. I mean, ExoGeni is involved." I mused, eyes scanning the colony for anything out of place. Other than how shifty the people were acting, of course.
"ExoGeni is here?"
"Yeah. Not right in the colony, but it's only a few miles out. That way." I gestured off toward the skyway.
One of the women was elbow-deep in a generator, another was shaking her head at a waterline. We moved deeper, entering one of the buildings, and heard one of the men complaining that there was only a little bit of meat left. Not enough for a colony, but the varren alpha was too mean to be taken down by a colonist. I made mental notes of it all.
Upon exiting, a man standing with a woman looked over. Relief clear on his face.
"I'm glad they finally sent somebody to help us."
"You're a bit late, aren't you?" She gave me a nasty look.
I kept my expression blank.
"Arcelia!" He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Everyone's on edge since-"
Movement behind them caught my eye. I pulled my pistol free and firing several times. "Watch out!"
Geth were spilling into the hall behind them, coming from deeper within the ruins. Between the four of us, the two of them staying outside, we made quick work of the whole lot.
"Let's go back and see how they're doing. Then, we can go and clear out the rest of the place."
Everyone nodded, holding their weapons tightly. Ready for any geth that might jump out.
"Relax, guys. Don't want to get too jumpy. Accidents happen all too easy." I soothed them.
Reluctantly, they each put their guns away.
A quick conversation, and we knew we were heading to the ExoGeni headquarters I'd pointed out earlier. We were also told what I'd already inferred: power was out, there was a food shortage, the water was turned off. All things I was sure would fall on our shoulders. It always did, when someone needed something done. It always went to the adventurer, which happened to be us.
First, we went down, into the tunnels that ran underneath the colony. The water consoles were easy enough to find, and so were the varren. Who happened to be in the same room as a dead rover. Power cells for days, so to speak.
Three out of three, check. Those side missions were done.
Hell yeah.
"Is that a krogan?" Liara shouted, jumping to the side as it charged her.
I-
Yeah. It was. Krogan, working with the geth? Strange things were afoot, and it was both exhilarating and worrisome that I didn't know what.
"Looks like Saren's been recruiting." I let out a thoughtful hum. "Wonder what he said to make them work with the geth."
They were protecting a little tower that was transmitting a signal to the geth, judging from a scan us ladies did of the thing. After comparing notes, I opted to just shoot the thing. Easiest way to turn it off, really.
And then, we ran into a human. He was not happy to see us, terrified of something.
"Who are you?" I tried.
"Nothing I should be, and anything I shouldn't."
Okaaaaay. There was clearly something wrong with him.
"NOOOOO!" He crouched, hunched in on himself, hands gripping the sides of his head.
My companions rushed forward, but I put my arms out. Waiting.
Straightening, he gave himself a shake. "That was a good one. Very intense."
Could be...
"What's wrong?" I asked softly, sweetly.
"Just invoking the master's whip."
It definitely felt like a mind control situation, that was for sure. About to say the wrong thing, talking too much. Earning the ire of your "master," mentally feeling pain because they're putting a stop to you. Conditioning you to keep your mouth shut.
I'd seen it before, but it was always at a closer range. In the same room, kind of deal. There was no one but us five around, though.
"Helps remind me I'm still alive." He cocked his head, a strange expression on his face. "You're here for the geth, aren't you? You're not the only one interested in those... things."
"Who are you talking about?" I stepped toward him, eyeing the space behind him. "Who else is looking for the geth?"
"Not looking for; looking to get rid of. They're a thorn in the side of the-" He grabbed his head, stumbling back a few paces, shouting in pain.
Mind control. A hundred thousand percent sure, now.
Mumbling some nonsense sentences under his breath, he began laughing manically.
Garrus muttered I should leave him because he had clearly lost it. Liara and Kaidan were of the same mind, but voiced they felt bad about agreeing.
I studied the man for a few minutes in silence, sensing movement way back behind us. Probably the geth. Or, maybe, more krogan. A distant clicking noise, the kind I'd only heard from geth, and I nixed that idea. Definitely geth.
"Maybe I should just kill you." My voice was cold, my expression blank.
"I've thought about that. Several times." He nodded along, sounding eager to discuss this subject. "But I want to die fighting. Not a fight. Not that kind of fight." Almost as if he could read my mind, know what I was about to ask. "It's like running through a thorn bush. The more you struggle..."
"The more stuck you get." I finished.
He went stock still for a moment, before looking over our shoulders. The bots were creeping closer.
"Time's up. Company's coming." Turning his gaze back to me, he grabbed my arms in a vice grip. "Ask Fai Dan. Ask him about the-" He squeezed my arms tightly as his whole body moved like it was being electrocuted.
I let out a strangled noise at the pain of his fingers digging in. My suit wasn't the armor that Garrus was wearing. In fact, if I was correct, it was actually thinner than what Liara was wearing.
"Shepard!" Kaidan called out, but they had more to worry about than me.
The geth were upon us.
I didn't want to hurt the man, and looking over my shoulder told me they were handling themselves well. So, I just stayed where I was. The more he writhed, the deeper his fingers dug. Tears were streaming down my face by the time they'd killed enough for Kaidan and Liara to come to my aid. Being careful as they pried him off me, Garrus dispatching the scattered few that remained.
"Are you alright, Viridian?" The asari looked me over.
I nodded, wiping my face clean. "Yeah. I'm okay." Crouching, I looked him over. He was out cold, curled up in a ball, now that I wasn't supporting him.
"Shepard-"
I cut the turian off. "I've got some questions for Fai Dan. Let's get back. While I'm talking to him, you guys can tell those people that we did what they wanted."
When we got back to Zhu's, the three dispersed at my nod.
"What can I do for you?" Fai Dan asked in a friendly tone.
"I took out that transmitter in the tunnels. Hopefully, you won't have a problem with the geth anymore. I did have a question, though. There's a man, down there. He one of yours?"
"Ah. That would be Ian. He's very sick."
Yeah, I'd gathered that much.
"He hasn't been the same since the last attack. We tried to help him, but he wouldn't listen to us." He shook his head. "I can't help my people, if they won't listen."
It wouldn't do to ask about their medical supplies. That man, while certainly unwell, definitely didn't have anything that medicine would fix.
No, that man needed whatever was in his head removed. Hopefully, it was an external source- someone controlling him from the outside. If it was something implanted, well... the act of removing it could kill him. So, needless to say, I was hoping for the former.
Kaidan reached me first, Garrus the next. Liara came up last, but with that, we were ready to actually head out to the skyway.
"She gave me some money." Garrus held up a credit chit.
The other two said echoed him.
"Ah, keep it." I waved them off. "You guys were just as responsible as I was for getting all of it done."
"What about you? If we take all the reward..."
"Liara, I'm gonna stop you right there. You know I'll just hack ExoGeni to hell and back. Besides, I'm not hurting for money."
If I'd been the one to tell them, I wouldn't have accepted, because they looked like they needed every penny they could get. But that was just me. Maybe I'd send a little ExoGeni money their way, hush hush like.
"Let's go!" I shouted, charging back into the tunnels.
After a moment, they caught up. It was a shoddy distraction attempt, but it worked- no one continued the conversation.
