"You know what we did to copkillers back home?" Sergeant Kaira Sterling
Repair Bay, Port Hanshan, Noveria, Pax System, Horse Head Nebula, July 31, 2183
Sergeant Kaira Lindsey Sterling stood in the Maintenance Repair Bay facility that was used for-hire for vessels in the Pax System as well as any Noveria Board of Commerce vessels for any kind of repairs, modifications, maintenance, installations, and downloads that a vessel and crew might need. Being Noveria, the list of available parts, items, systems, and software was rather staggering, and the repair bay jokingly claim that it could attach a hardware system and patch it into a ships' management system no matter how strange. She had actually seen someone order a ferrous emitter array upon a hack job of a pinnacle with the thought of 'curving' rounds away from his vessel as some sort of defense, the pirate in question with more Credits than brains. Still, the wrench monkeys had done the job they had been paid to do, installing electromagnetic pulse devices as the customer specified, not really caring if it actually worked or not. Considering the pirate in question was shot done a week or so later by a Salarian Union Naval Patrol, Kaira kinda doubted the effectiveness of the system.
They got paid for the job. Who cared afterwards?
She had been contacted by a known minor smuggler a couple of hours prior about using the 'Repair Bay' for standard maintenance; the normal cover that Kaira used to have contraband-runners like Vetra Nix bringing in off-world goods that would be taxed by the Noverian Board of Commerce and the Corporate Board, as they taxed all things heavily considering they were a non-Council world smack-dab right in the grips of Council Space and needed the money, the tech, and the manpower to tell the Council fuck off (politely, but still a fuck off) so that corporations ranging from Human Research and Development firms, Salarian Tech research facilities, Asari 'entertainment' corporations, and Turian weapons manufacturers could make off-the-book products that were sold and traded throughout the galaxy without some snobby oversight committee getting in the way. The prices that the Noverian Board charged these corporations for owning property on the frozen Garden World was practically spacelane robbery, and yet megacorporations such as Synthetic Insights, Binary Helix, Armax Arsenal, Core-Haslop Aerospace, Armali Council, and Kassa Fabrications paid top dollar to avoid scrutiny.
The amount of Credits was staggering, and Sterling was sure to make sure she got a slice of her own pie.
The IFV Serenitas had finished docking procedures with the repair bay, the Allied Spacecraft Corporations' Firefly-Class Mid-Bulk (Class B) Mk. III Transportation Vessel resting on the ships' cradle as docking thrusters were depowered and the smell of ozone waifed from the hull of the ungainly-looking vessel. The Serenitas belonged in some shipbreaker yard, sold as scraps and parts or melted into slag, a nearly century-old vessel that had long since past its prime. Just the sight of the mantis-looking vessel had the Elanus Risk Control Service Sergeant sneer at the pre-Charon Relay vessel in question. Why would anyone bother with such an obsolete relic?
The vessels' front ramp extended and dropped to reveal the cargo hold of said vessel as three people stood at the bays' control station, one being a female Turian that Sterling knew on sight; Captain Vetra Nix. The others were that big-as-fuck Batarian bruiser that look like he could get into an arm wrestling match with a Krogan and stand a chance, and then the other female Turian who was always at Vetra's side, the silent one whose answer to everything was either glaring or a round to the chest from her heavy-bore carbine rifle that was a Devlon Industries' H-44 Kutash Heavy Engagement Rifle; who the hell shortened a sniper rifle and fired it like a submachine gun?
"Well, well, well, look who the cat dragged in." Kaira announced as the ramp touched the metal ground of the repair bay and the trio of smugglers ambled down its slope to greet her. "Mentioned that you've got some pretty cherry cargo that'll fetch a nice price." As always, Sterling was suppose to 'inspect' any incoming vessels for any possibility of stowaways, undeclared cargo, and of course contraband. If someone wanted to sell some 'extra' cargo but didn't have the asking price that Kaira ask for, she would confiscate the cargo, impound the ship, and sell the illicit cargo to someone else who was a little more amicable to bribing her looking the other way. The ERCS Sergeant was only a few months away from reaching the monetary goal she would need to achieve what she really wanted; to retire on some beach on Earth and fuck the rest. Four years spent standing on a Systems Alliance ship doing Watch as a Marine had left her jaded on being 'the little guy', and another four year stint with Elanus Risk Control Services hadn't improved that outlook. Everyone else in the damn galaxy seemed to be in it for themselves. Why not her too?
"It's worth a pretty Cred, that's for certain." Nix replied as the huge Batarian thug that Kaira never did catch the name of merely folded his muscular arms over his thick chest and grunted with a nod; one could always tell what a Batarian was thinking by their subtle head movements and twitches, an intrinsic part of their culture and heritage. Vona Masarius, the other female Turian, merely glowered at Sterling; pretty normal. "Ready to do some business?" Kaira always liked Vetra; she never cried or harped on the 'extra' fees for smuggling into Noveria unlike many of her smuggling kin. She was obviously smart enough to know that to make a profit, one had to play the game.
"Lets." Sterling smile as the Turian Captain gestured to follow her into the cargo bay of her Firefly-Class Vessel, flanked by her two cronies as Sergeant Sterling followed them up the ramp, entering the fairly-large cargo area of the vessel that was big enough to fit a small-sized shuttle if needed. Fireflys like this had been small-bulk transporters back before the Mars Archives had been discovered, inner-system transporters that had hauled minerals and supplies back and forth from fracking stations in Sol System when all Humanity had was a singular solar system to its name. That someone shoved a Mass Effect-capable engine on it was actually rather impressive; Kaira was surprise that damn thing did rattle to pieces the first time it entered into the 'cradle' of a Mass Relay. The cargo bay looked empty despite having a third-rate Tulonex Industries' flatbed hoverskid moored in the center of the hold. Smugglers like Nix profited from what goods they could smuggle through customs and officials… and what they could smuggle through corrupt customs and officials. The blond-haired Human woman knew that everyone tried to slip something past her (she'd be disappointed if they didn't) and no doubt Vetra had gotten a call from some administrator or facility manager wanting or needing something off-the-books, anything from research, to fine food, to even entertainment in the form of Asari. Well, actually the vessel had an Asari Consort, didn't they? Vetra had that one covered, a bit of a side gig that no doubt earned her a small-but-constant stipend of Credits. "Alright, Nix. Where's the goods."
"Right behind you." A Human female's voice said from where Kaira had just walked by, some MetalGel-fabricated cargo boxes to either side explaining how she had walked passed someone. The ERCS Sergeant turned to see…
… a redheaded woman standing in armor colored in ultrablack panels and blood-red flexible polymer fabric underpaneling. There was only one organization in the entire galaxy authorized to use that color scheme. Not that others didn't try, but the repercussions warded all but the utterly stupid from that decision. And no Human would dare try to trick anyone with that particular nonsense considering that there was only two allowed to wear those colors, galaxy-famous women well-known thanks to an attack on Humanity's largest colony ad the most-grossing Human movie of all time.
Standing before her was Captain Jane Catherine Shepard, who stood in a relaxed position, thumbs tucked into the weapons belt of her HMWA MasterGear SPECTRE Armor.
"Captain Shepard." Sergeant Kaira Sterling said, feeling… a little flummoxed. She had never used that term in her life, and yet it was completely and utterly appropriate now. Seeing what was likely the best warrior Humanity had standing in front of her? An icon of lethality and precision only a couple of meters away? The woman that The Fires Of Heaven had portrayed (and Kaira had watched half-a-dozen times in the theater and streamed the special edition subscription when it came out on ENetFlix)? The one that had taken down the most vile of criminals, hunted the worst of the slavers, who put complete foot-to-ass the enemies of Humanity? That woman was standing right in fucking front of her! Kaira had been in the SAMC when Elysium had been struck, stationed on a Nathan James-Class Destroyer when the Colonial Emergency Broadcast Alarm had gone off in the SSV Richard Winters when scum had come for Elysium, Second Fleet moving in to defend the colony in space. Kaira had heard of the story a few hours after it happened, of a Navy Ensign holding off a hundred men in a hallway armed with nothing more than a Hahne-Keder M7 Lancer Assault Rifle that was the bread-and-butter rifle of the Marine Corps. She had been in awe of the woman that Humanity called the Lion of Elysium when the real reports came in of a woman who defended a secondary school from a slave raid; the true effort of the attack.
And now that woman was standing in front of her in a smugglers' ship that just landed on Noveria.
Kaira could put two-and-two together easily. This had epic disaster written on it in trigital neon lettering.
Sterling had seen the news after the attack on Eden Prime, knew the mission that the N7/Council Agent was on; the hunt for the Turian that had dropped a hundred thousand Geth upon Constant and kill his ass. If Shepard was here on Noveria… Saren Arcturus had something on Noveria he wanted or was already his. Tens of thousands of people had died in Constant when Geth hardware platforms dropped onto the colony after hacking the Planetary Defense System and turning its GARDIAN Laser Batteries and STS Missiles against the Eden Prime Colonial Air Force, thirteen Destroyers blasted into smithereens in the same minute due to Geth hacking. Captain Shepard had led the team that had saved Constant; one of her men deactivated an anti-matter bomb that was meant to erase the evidence of Saren's presence as well as denying any investigative opportunity. The news hadn't been shy with Shepard's actions since then; the defense and rescue of an Alliance Research Base on Therum, the retaking of the ACV Horizon, the retaliatory strike against whatever had depopulated Hadley's Hope in Feros (and supposedly there was a volcano to commemorate it thanks to the orbital kinetic strike, the Lion firing until she cracked the crust of the planet), and of course the Battle of LaGrange Point Two. Humanity's First SPECTRE was on a warpath for whomever wanted to hurt Humanity, and as a young Sara Ryder once said on an interview where she introduced the galaxy to 'Jane Shepard Facts', the Lion only had two speeds; fast and splatter.
Despite the graft, the corruption, the bribes, the extortion and blackmail that Kaira did, she remembered one thing. Yes, she had a plan to retire at thirty-five, to actually enjoy herself instead of puttering around some cabin-like domicile too old to do anything fun. All those Credits, all the items in which she picked through some smugglers' hold, the knowing smile she gave whenever someone didn't play ball and she seized their cargo and vessel? That didn't beat that one thing. The sound of bootfalls against grating had Kaira look about her for a moment, her heart nearly stopping at the fact that Captain Shepard hadn't come alone; all of TEAM LION was present! A big-as-fuck Krogan, a scary-ass looking Turian, Humans that bristled enough weaponry to blast a moon into pieces, a couple of Quarians, a Salarian who probably outsmarted everyone on a regular basis (and… was that a female Salarian?), and off to her right there was the Angel of Illyeria, Sara Elaine Ryder, also in HMWA MasterGear SPECTRE Armor. The entirety of TEAM LION was now physically on Noveria, and that most certainly meant bad news for everyone. By rights, Kaira should have been sounding the alarm and screaming her bloody head off; SPECTREs were 'persuaded' not to come to Noveria, and given the run around. Corporations paid big Credits for that fact. But there was that one thing, the one thing that sat on the other side of that scale that weighed decisions and changed ones' life.
Kaira Belinda Sterling had been born in Constant, Eden Prime.
"What do you need, and who's going to die at the end of it?" Sergeant Sterling asked, looking into the green eyes of Humanity's finest warrior.
And Shepard just smiled.
Sergeant First Class Ashley Madeline Williams found herself in a General Dynamics' M577 GRZLY Armored Personnel Carrier that was even older than she was, driving down one of the causeways that linked Port Hanshan together. The facility/city was a bit of a strange one as the Colonial Soldier understood it; it was built into a mountain. Considering that Noveria itself was a frozen Garden World where the temperatures would reach a nasty negative Fifty Celsius, utilizing geothermal heating to alleviate some of those concerns while having a rocky exterior to shield the port from the weather and wind probably wasn't a bad idea. But of course, that was if one ignored the original purpose of why Humanity had put a city on a popsicle planet in the first place; to house a research and development facility outside of purview, review, safety standards, and ethical oversight. The cost must have been ruinous for those companies and corporations that first developed it, the dreams of illegal profiteering filling their eyes and greedy hearts to turn a mountain into a cave system. The sad part was that Ash thought the endeavor itself (not the reason) was pretty cool; making a tunneled city on a hostile world and making it work. It just sucked that it was all for the Credits.
But still, someone had bored a city into a mountain.
"Binary Helix," Sergeant Kaira Sterling spoke as she drove the M577 GRZLY down the icy tunnel that served as a Noverian highway, "is one of Noveria's largest investors. Besides doing legal genetic research into genemods and proper organic technology, they have their fingers in the Eezo pie of genetics research; full-body cloning." That bit of news had William grunt. She had most certainly seen some of those patient/victims of Alexandria Station, males and females who had come to Tuvoc Harte for a cloned organ (for good reasons) or those who were in such dire straits that the let themselves become the host of a growing organ for Credits. Sadly, those in the station had been captured and used for genetic research, organ exploitation, and selling said organs to those who didn't want to risk some BlackTech chopshop Doc's version of a 'homegrown' clone organ that was likely laced with genetic damage and malignant DNA code. Sara had done some work-up on what Harte had been doing after getting their wounded crew members stabilized along with Doctor Chakwas, reviewing collected notes and doing dissections, autopsies, and biopsies on some of the 'evidence' they had found in the black site station. Doc had confirmed it; Tuvoc Harte had perfected the 'perfect' cloning technique with a forty percent success rate for most species, able to grow a sapient their own organ in another's' body perfectly four out of ten times. Not only that, the monster had cloned and replicated himself dozens of times, cheating death and time body.
Ash was really, really glad that Skipper executed that sick fuck with a Widow round at point blank range.
"We were notified of an emergency board meeting about two days prior," the blond fake cop continued her part as driver/tour guide, having signed out the GRZLY from the Repair Dock that the IFV Serenitas had landed on and ensconcing TEAM LION on it with none the wiser, "and given an itinerary and guest list". The Colonial Soldier was a bit iffy on the plan; it had involved a team of smugglers and their ship at first (not always the reliable or trustworthy sort, though Doc knew the captain and the smugglers' themselves were good folk), and now it was hinging on this corrupt pseudo-cop of a Corporate slimeball planet where they skirted every law in the book… but God forbid someone broke one of theirs. Sounded about right in the scheme of things; lawbreakers were always adamant that somehow they could play with the rules but don't dare cross one of their rules, as if they were somehow better. "Other thank that, I don't know much else. We're paid specifically not to look into details or ask questions, but I can get you the list of expected personages, who's already landed, where the meeting is being held, and even an idea of where the shareholders and executives will likely be staying for the duration."
"That's a good start." Skipper said from the crash seat next to the driver seat, everyone else squeezed and smashed into the GRIZZLY like a mayo packet. Ash had a small vision of the rear ramp popping open when they arrived in their destination of Port Hanshan Proper and everyone spilling out like a dropped bag of chips. Hell, Doctor Liara T'soni was physically sitting in her lap (not that Ash minded at all) to make room for the sixteen members of TEAM LION on the ten-seat vehicle. Niki'Raan nar Tombay was on Private First Class Louis 'Bra' Broussard's lap, the two of them acting as if it were just the luck of the draw as if no one had noticed that the Human Marine and the Quarian Marine prospect had practically bopped uglies in just about every dark corner of the SSV Normandy. "I assume that 'emergency board meeting' means that something went wrong or something big is coming up."
"That's usually what it means." Sterling replied from where she sat, her eyes focused on the road. "Considering that Binary Helix has never suffered a bad quarter, and has grown every year by twelve percent, as sure as clockwork, I don't doubt that something big has been found or something big was stumbled upon. This is probably one-half decision time, one-half celebration time." Williams had to admit that it probably made sense if she knew much about such things. It wasn't like she had stock in anything after all, much less owning a percentage in a company… which Petty Officer (Second Class) Sara Ryder did thanks to her mother and father. "Bad part is that all corporate facilities are hardened against data intrusion and espionage attempts. No outside lines or LiFi connections to the main servers, each facility has exactly one door for access in or out, and they're carved into a mountain. If you want in, it's going to be… tricky."
"Not so much." Agent Zevin Raeka replied from where she sat, unfortunately pulling the short straw and getting Urdnot Wrex's lap. Ash wasn't sure which one of them was more uncomfortable, the Krogan with the Salarian on his lap, or the Salarian practically being cuddled by the Krogan. "Pintested STG Archives for both electronic and physical access for a month. Found three routes and two datapoints. If I can break into the STG, I can break into a Corporation."
"Fuckin' A, Raeka." Private Nathaniel 'Ballsack' Balsach hooted from where he sat with Private Holland 'Lapdance' Hoss in his lap. "Who needs James Bond when we've got a Salarian spymaster who's also a crack shot and a tech mage on our side?" Ash thought about how she once was… God, had it only been six or seven weeks ago? She had hated aliens on principle, never really having spent time with any of them (and not really wanting to, either). Now she was in an APC stuffed with five different species with her alien girlfriend sitting on her lap without any issues whatsoever. If anyone had a problem with it before, it had been buried or solved, like it had been for her. Even Wrex got along with Detective Garrus Vakarian and Agent Zevin Raeka; the three species most likely to butt heads and kill one another. Being in a war and stationed on the same vessel had really knocked whatever discrimination and racism right out of the park.
For a woman who had joined into the Colonial Army too young for the sake of her family, she had found another sort of family aboard a Scout Reconnaissance Frigate.
The drive last another hour, the M577 Armored Personnel Carrier descending the mountain that was Port Hanshan; the docks were near the peak while the main facility and its many accommodations were located somewhere in the central lower portion of the geological feature, utilizing its geothermal heat and rocky exterior to protect it from the environment of Noveria. While Ash hadn't exactly seen a map of the place, she understood it that the main facility was really just a hub where the 'public' face of Noveria was best known for; its luxury hotels, its casinos, its decadent night clubs, its well-known practically galaxy-famous drug dens (which were legal on Noveria), and even a resort. All of that was a facade for the real moneymaker upon the frozen Garden World; locations rented by businesses and corporation that wanted to projects and experiments without that nasty ethical oversight thing or questions of legality getting in the way. As Sergeant Sterling mentioned earlier, several of the nearby mountains had several separate facilities that one couldn't get into except through Port Hanshan, the locations only accessible through subterranean tunnels from the port itself; there was no outside access. If there was a more blatant, apparent wrong being done, then Williams couldn't think of a better example. Hell, the fake cop had told them that the separate facilities had demolition charges planted in labs so they could sink and bury them if things went wrong. Like… wasn't that fucking apparent to everyone that bad shit was up? That was like asking God to fix an aiming sight on ones' ass for bad shit to happen.
And their happy-go-lucky asses were heading for some location that was probably smack in the middle of said dart board. Par for course.
Port Hanshan was as opulent a place as one could expect for both a tourist trap geared towards being a resort and a way to make a bunch of illicit Credits by flagrantly skirting the law while giving the entirety of Citadel Space the middle finger. Real wood and real plants gave the interior of the Port that look of hospitality as succulents grew in planters boxes while comfortable benches made for many species lined the walkways while tridio holographic screens that were made to look like exterior windows showed panoramic real-time shots of Noveria itself; a winter wasteland that was both picturesque and breath-taking despite its sub-frigid temperatures. One-half of the reason that Port Hanshan existed in the state that it did was that it was geared to be a sort of luxury paradise for tourists, gamblers, thrillseekers, and those who wanted to walk away from their lives for a few days t o test out just about every known legal and illegal narcotic, StimSim, thrill, and experience without having to worry about being hauled in by any kind of authority save Port Hanshan's Finest (ha!). Like Vegas in the United North American States, someone had created a candyland for the citizens of the galaxy to spend time off from doing proper things with amusements such as gambling, concerts, venues, clubs, drug dens, sapients for rent for 'entertainment' purposes, and other things that one wouldn't find anywhere else at the quality that Hanshan was famous for. It was a very tasty frosting of a cake where something ugly existed under that veneer of 'escapism' fun.
Federal Marshal Samantha Lynn Collins (SAMS, OST) fucking hated Noveria.
Currently, TEAM LION was cooling its heels in a parking garage that existed below the 'public' levels of Port Hanshan, a structure that existed to house the vehicles that would take some business being or corporate flunky to one of the many various 'Peaks' that were the rentable locations for businesses and corporations that wanted to get into research, development, manufacturing, or projects that they wanted off-the-books, avoiding ethical or legal scrutiny, or just to bypass whatever various import/export tax laws. Sam knew that there was more going on than just illegal business practices; Armax Arsenal developed its cutting-edge weaponry on Noveria away from potential corporate espionage and business infiltration, meaning that they did R-D for next years' weaponry in a more-or-less proper manner without the competition snooping. That she got. There was also Synthetic Insights, a legal Council-approved corporation that manufactured Artificial Intelligence software in a location where a potential rampant program had nowhere to escape to thanks to the enclosed Stand-Alone Complex serves and lack of access to any kind of network. Made sense. BioWare Corporation, a video game software company famous for making several fantasy and science-fiction third-person hack-and-slash or shooter games, had a location on Noveria so they could create their games without a legion of fans trying to hack into their servers for spoilers and codes while trying to keep its competition in the dark. Again, no real issues there.
Sadly, those ethical companies were in the minority.
The Federal Marshal and Clandestine Agent of the Office of Special Tactics had been to Noveria a few times along with her team and Agent Nihlus Kryik. The first time was to chase and capture an Attican Warlord who had known connections to the events of Mindoir, Amarastu, a slaving piece of shit whom she had tracked down thanks to her ability to interpret and collate Mass Relay Translation data. The piece of filth, one Karlan Yor'darrag, had been using the same vessel for nearly a decade when she finally captured the ships' registration and figured out the points of interests and locations of habit to track the son of a bitch down. The Batarian 'labor' entrepreneur had rabbited to Noveria to escape his well-deserved fate with justice (or perhaps a well-placed round to his skull), where Sam, Nihlus, and their team had gone to Port Hanshan to apprehend the subject using Nihlus Kryik's SPECTRE authority. She had ended up a 'free' room at one of the hotels with at least four Elanus Risk Control Service guards to make sure that she wouldn't go anywhere while Nihlus had been given the unofficial runaround by the Corporate scumbags that gave real law enforcement the runaround while letting scum and slavers like Karlan strut free as they pleased. The Batarian was allowed to stay at Port Hanshan in its exclusive and luxurious accommodations while Sam sat in a low-rent room not even able to leave to go get food while Nihlus had been escorted by no less than a dozen of ERCS's 'finest', somehow always at locations that Yor'darrag had been a few to several hours prior. In the end, they had been 'detained' for an extra two days with false promises and the run around while the Batarian hired a spot on a yacht that took him on a cruise somewhere else. The ship that Sam had tracked, the one that the Batarian had used for years, had been impounded by Port Hanshan authorities, scraped, and its data wiped before Sam or her crew could get a hold of it to find the victims of the slave raid, where they had been taken, and who might have bought them.
Yeah, she had a bit of an ax to grind when it came to Noveria and its Corporate Board of scum.
TEAM LION was currently waiting for Sergeant Kaira Sterling to return with current information pertaining to Binary Helix, its incoming personnel, and where perhaps they could find out where the meetings would be held or its personnel staying. It was as Sara Ryder said a couple days before; they were going to have to play it subtle with the events in Noveria. Relying on a corrupt cop wasn't exactly what Sam had in mind in terms for infiltration, but usually such acts had someone on the inside to do some of the necessary work. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't what she would want, but it was the way things were going to have to be played. She just hoped that this blonde-haired rent-a-cop wouldn't betray them.
It had been over an hour, and it was all Sam could do not to pace around. The others were anxious as well.
Another half-an-hour passed when Sergeant Sterling came back to the parking garage, looking a little flustered; that was actually a good thing. If the ERCS Sergeant had come in with a smile and a charming demeanor, it would mean she would be feeding them bullshit. It didn't look like the corrupt cop had betrayed them, not with a look on her face that said that she hadn't exactly gotten what she had went out for. Captain Jane Shepard had been in conference with Urdnot Wrex and Detective Garrus Kaaldor Vakarian, obviously coming up with plans on how to deal with an Asari Matriarch. Sam had never faced one herself; most 'dark' Asari (what Thessians called their criminal kin) were generally not versed in some of the more lethal Biotic arts, thankfully. The few that Collins had ever had to deal with knew how to lift a sapient up as if gravity had been shut off, throw someone around (which suck righteously), press someone to the ground, hit someone with a bolt of Biotic force, or make it feel as if someone weighed in twice or thrice as heavy.
Lady Matriarch Benezia E'shora Samira T'soni was no mere criminal; she was a Priestess of Athame, a guardian of her people and their way of life. She commanded power in Biokinetic force, monetary means, respect, wisdom, and prestige unlike any puffed-up shithead Sam had ever encountered. Like most many Humans, the name Lady Matriarch T'soni was a well-known one in the Human political sphere, the first to come to Humanity's aid and represent them galactically in the months after the First Contact War. She was Thessia's Ambassador to Earth and the Systems Alliance when Humanity was still clamoring over the fact that there were alien species in the galaxy and a united front wasn't exactly… united. She helped Humanity understand the seriousness of the Treaty of Farixen and why it was so important while negotiating on Mankind's behalf. When Mankind had been struggling with the aftermath of the FCW, Lady Matriarch Benezia T'soni had been an ally for Humanity, standing for them during their struggles of acceptance when it seemed like an entire galaxy was against them.
She wasn't some mere criminal, nor was she some poor Asarikin who had made too many rotten choices and 'swam in darker waters' like some amongst the Sisterhood of the Eclipse or the Sanguine Waves. Lady Benezia was an august figure of prestige and respect… and her siding with a Human-hating Turian like Saren Arterius made no sense whatsoever. Especially considering how she was formally trained in the Biotic arts to bring force and the sword to the enemies of Thessia? She wasn't merely some really rich, really old Matriarch who could be brushed aside so quickly, not at nearly a millennium of age for a species that grew more powerful the older they got.
No one was looking forward to having to potentially face a trained Asari Matriarch that could likely crush them all… at the same time.
"Well, I've got good news and bad news." Kaira Sterling said as she approached the Lion, the redheaded N7 looking to the ERCS Sergeant as she approached the Captain. "I've got a current itinerary, the who's who list, where they're staying, and a good idea when the meeting will be tomorrow and even where it will be at. Unfortunately," the blond woman grimaced, "the meeting is highly confidential, it's being held at Peak Fifteen, which is where Binary Helix sits supreme, and the data and communications blackout is very impressive. I saw more than a few Salarian names amongst the persons coming in amongst the investors and businessmen, so I don't doubt that any kind of electronic intrusion or bypass will be detected. I have a hard time believing that that many Salarians could be coming in without one or two of them being Special Tasks Group-trained or someone not being an expert in software encryption and protection. I got what I could with the thought of what someone like myself could get without being seen as suspicious. I figured some information and the element of surprise was better than more information and someone having an idea that someone is snooping."
"Good work, Kaira. With an active list and an idea where to go, we can use that to get closer to some of the more protected servers with our experts without waisting time or alerting e-sniffers." Shepard replied, giving the guard a nod of her head. "And it's a good assessment of what a corporation of Binary Helix's caliber would do to protect its investors, stockholders, and secrets. I'd rather going in with a partial picture and them blind than both parties with a full picture of what to expect." Sam smiled at that; yes, the Lion always did like to come in unannounced, didn't she? That was how N's operated, after all, with a little bit of intel, a location, a hit list, and a surprising boot through a door and a bullet to the brain pan. With not much of a picture to go off of, TEAM LION was going to have to play this like a reconnaissance mission instead of a tactical strike mission. "Tali, Raeka? See what random chatter we can pick up passively that might give us a clearer view of what to expect. I imagine the goods are going to be behind hardened server rooms with no connects to outside network sources, so don't bother looking for backdoors or signals that might penetrate walls. Chances are, such access will be physical and will require an Evil Maid concept or an Inside Man. Neither which we'll have access to." Sam briefly thought of Detective Daepron Norban, who had been a part of the Citadel Security Services' Investigation and Evidence Division and her own personal team.
The Salarian male had been a shrewd mind who had thrilled at the thought of solving puzzles, riddles, and crimes. The harder the obstacle, the more the Salarian Detective would have buckled down and found a way to outsmart the competition. Something like this would have been right up his alley, and Sam remembered him fondly, that brave Salarian male dataware specialist who had died freeing slaves on Torfan by hacking through the bases' firewalls and turning off the Cerebral Cortex Control Program for the fettered, what the galaxy knew as 'Control Chips' that the Batarians injected into the brain stem of all they captured and enslaved. Special Intervention Unit Operatives had gunned him down, but not before Norban had the last laugh at the last moment of his life; freeing the fettered and setting the security complexes power management system to explode, killing his killers as well as anyone else in the security complex. Detective Daepron had really hated the Batarians, and had died not only defying them, but ensuring that they lost.
"We goin' in, jefe?" Sergeant Jeanette Maria Sanchez Vasquez asked, standing in her Aegohr Munitions' Kestrel Heavy Combat Armor, looking a little miffed at having to stand around. Marines thrilled at the action, and no doubt the UNAS-born woman was itching to pump rounds from her Devlon Industries' M-56 Marshal Medium Machine Gun into some asshole that really and truly deserved it.
"This is the first solid lead we have into anything concerning that fucking spike, what he wants, the attack on Eden Prime, and a potential way to thwart him." The N7 replied, and there was no mistaking that tone of cold iron in her voice, Collins noted. "It's been damn near two months since anyone has seen that fucker, but he's sat on the sidelines somewhere sending his lackeys and cronies out to do his dirty work. If stopping a high-level associate of his or a necessary part of the plan is what we have at the time, we're going to go gunning for it. Sooner or later, Saren is going to have to crawl out of whatever safehouse he's directing things from and get into the game personally if I keep deucing his gamepieces and taking out the more vital parts. This is the closest thing to a mistake that I've seen, and we're going to exploit the shit out of it." Sam found herself looking over to Doctor Liara T'soni, who didn't look too thrilled with the speech considering that it concerned the Matriarch. The Protheantologist might not have any actual love for her mother, but wish ill on one's kin and actively working against them in a way that might lead towards their death was of another vein. They was still so much they didn't know pertaining to Lady Matriarch T'soni; the how, the when, the why of it. One of the most celebrated Asari in Human Space working with a known Human-hater that had some connection to the attack of one of Earth's colonies? It didn't add up. But Jane was right; Saren had made moves against Mankind, and a reckoning was due. If they couldn't find the Turian, then they would roadblock his plans and force him to make mistakes or to come out in the open.
And when that happened, Marshal Sam Collins was going to put the barrel of her Smith and Wesson Model 696 Mass Acceleration Revolver into the craw of that plated bastard and blow his brains out of his fringed skull.
"Alright, TEAM LION, load into the cramped GRZLY and we'll infill into Peak Fifteen and see if we can crash a small party or two." Shepard ordered with a gleam in her emerald eyes, no doubt thinking the same thing Sam was; drilling Saren's head open with a round.
Binary Helix Pharmaceutical Corporation Headquarters, Peak Fifteen, Noveria, Pax System, Horse Head Nebula, August 1, 2183
Binary Helix didn't own a 'peak'; they owned the whole damn mountain.
Noveria and its original Human investors had created a port in the middle of a mountain range, placing Port Hanshan in the largest mountain on the planet, Mount Hanshan. When boring into the mountain to create a subterranean facility that was generally going to the cater to corporations and the rich, the nearest thirty mountains had equally been excavated for loftier endeavors to bring in the bigger businesses and their bigger Credits. Some mountains had been figuratively gutted as facilities, corridors, network tunnels, power stations, boardrooms, offices, and accommodations had been created with the thought of enticing megacorporations and superfirms to partake in the advantages of owning a facility where access was controlled tightly and scrutiny was damn near non-existent. Binary Helix, a genetics and pharmaceutical corporation, had been one of the very first businesses to jump on the enterprise, renting out an entire mountain in perpetuity for advanced research, development, experimentation, catalog, and exploitation in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, and synthesizing. Like any other pharmaceutical company, the thought of 'ethical' research and experimentation stymied development of the newest and latest developments involving booster shots, over-the-counter drugs, legal narcotics, genemods, and the real bread-and-butter, 'Blue Diamond'; a drug created that was found to alleviate erectile dysfunction but was widely and mis-appropriately used and abused as a libido-increasing pharmacological wonder. Binary Helix was one of the premiere pharmacological and genetic companies in Human Space, worth trillions.
Petty Officer (Second Class) Sara Elaine Ryder (SAN, HM-8404, OST) was rather glad she dump-sold all eleven thousand shares of her stocks in the company that she inherited from her mother before arriving in Noveria.
Peak Fifteen was a built-up complex of several levels, almost like a skyscraper inside of a mountain. Boasting thirty levels that measured hundreds of square meters per level, it was the galactic headquarters for the Binary Helix Pharmaceutical Corporation, where the 'real work' was done. The top ten levels were administrative and business-oriented where employees, supervisors, managers, Presidents and Vice-Presidents, and the Chiefs and Boardmembers worked. The bottom twenty levels were geared towards research and development, and there it was where 'the magic happened', so to speak. Many of those levels were off-shoots and were connected to the main complex via trams and corridors, separate facilities to prevent internal or external corporate espionage, external oversight, and God forbid if something went wrong the site could be quarantined or purged if things got really out of hand. Everything from animal pharmaceutical to Human Genome testing went on in the labs and testing sites at Peak Fifteen, where a separate facility had been made for the employees for living accommodations, to include a small town-like hub where purchases could be made for food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment imported off-world. Like Port Hanshan, Peak Fifteen was enclosed in a mountain with no external access save subterranean roadways for personnel and deliveries, controlling the flow of people and preventing unwanted access.
In their arrogance, their belief in total access control let TEAM LION slip in with everyone none the wiser.
Once inside the mountain that Binary Helix built (as Seaman Monica Negulesco put it), getting electronic access wasn't difficult for TEAM LION's' two software experts, Agent Zevin Raeka and Sha'me/Ensign Tali'Zorah nar Reyya. The Salarian STG not-Dalatrass began by cloning employee e-badges and logins for the lower-tiered employees, getting soft access thanks to sniffing programs for common usernames and weak passwords, finding schedules, locations, and internal e-mails throughout the company to get a better view of who was there, where to go, where to avoid, and any 'alerts' or 'dissuasions' of locations worth looking into. Tali was less subtle, executing a malware program that gave her Executive-level access by means of a phishing program that detected keystroke sounds off a users' Omnitool and deduced logins for Administrative access, bypassing any need of trying to crack through whatever encryption or firewalls that Binary Helix had. Within thirty minutes of gaining access to Peak Fifteen, Raeka and Tali were hard at work, snooping through the internal servers and sharedrives of the megacorporation, painting a more detailed picture of what was going on concerning the Emergency Shareholder Meeting that had one special VIP that TEAM LION was focusing on; Lady Benezia T'soni.
Surprisingly enough, there were a few other interesting names that stored for later investigation, people that were considered sapient non gratias in Council Space; Attican businessmen, Terminus property holders, Batarian investors, and one name that jumped out at Marshal Sam Collins as a known 'labor consortium magnate', a pretty term meaning a very well-to-do slaver. Anything about them on the Binary Helix server was copied and sent to SAM, the Node riding on the back of Sergeant First Class Ashley Madeline Williams for further investigations in case Binary Helix was up to something that would violate Council Law and the Treaty of Farixen. Despite not being in Council Space, a witnessed or evidence of a Level Three Infraction would draw upon the wrath of the Three, and whatever cute defenses Noveria had, legal, paper, or paramilitary, would find its mettle tested by the Office of Special Tactics and an even scarier term seldom-used yet even more frightening; Council Task Force. Names, itineraries, stock profiles, histories, data usages, accommodations and habits were all coped and downloaded as the Salarian not-Dalatrass and Quarian Pilgrim rifled through everything pertaining to the Stockholder Meeting. SAM had stockpiled and collated all the data together into something comprehensive for the other members to review and finds ways and means of exploitation.
Sara just knew that this had to be more than an emergency Stockholders' meeting; the top twenty controlling interests, the members of the Board, and the Committee were all present today according to the data that Raeka and Tali were getting, bringing in the heavy-hitters of Binary Helix since the announcement was made three days prior. More or less everyone dropped everything and made their way to Noveria for a semi-clandestine meeting that would involve a huge swath of the controlling interest and oversight for the megacorporations future, and that meant one of two things happened; a breakthrough that was already known, or something went terribly wrong that would cost billions of Credits and likely a large drop in stock prices. But it was the inclusion of Lady Matriarch T'soni that had their interest. If she really was a confederate of the Bloody Talon, they she was sent with something in mind, perhaps something Saren himself had invested in. If not, it was an opportunity to pull Lady Benezia away, to free her from whatever manipulations or trap that Saren Arterius had around her to force her cooperation. Either way, the trip to Noveria was the first real indication of anything involving Saren, even if indirectly. For that, Auntie wouldn't be pulling any punches.
"I… huh." Tali'Zorah was typing in mid-air, her silvery eyes looking at things that only existed in her point-of-view thanks to the Augmented Reality Overlay on the inner-curvature of her helmet as she slipped through the Stand-Alone Complex of servers and datashare drives for Binary Helix, a ghost amongst the system. "I think… I think I know what this meeting might be about. And we might possibly be in the wrong location."
"Whatcha got for us, Tali?" Auntie asked, her tone barely concealing the hope and expectation of a lethal warrior hunting its prey, getting a scent and the thrill of the hunt. It had been nearly two months since Eden Prime, and all TEAM LION had had was minor victories and one loss. Ryder knew what Auntie wanted; a blow that would send Saren reeling and out in the open, unprotected and scrambling, making mistakes and highlighting himself. Taking Benezia away from him could do just that if she were financing his activities or if he was using her finances to do just that.
"Apparently, Sara was right on both accounts; a breakthrough and a catastrophe." The Quarian Pilgrim replied as her three-fingered hands danced and swiped at the air, interacting with holographic images that only she could see. "It seems that approximately five years ago, an unnamed benefactor hired Binary Helix to work upon a secret project that, get this, involving building a completely separate facility upon another mountain close by with Port Hanshan and Corporate Board none-the-wiser. The amount of money involved is staggering, even for Binary Helix. I'm talking GigaCredits worth of investments for some special development biological project involving geneticists, bioengineers, and… paleontologists?" The silvery eyes shifted to Captain Shepard, Sara noted as the Quarian's hands paused. "The benefactor nor what the project is about is directly named, but there's a few clues. Evidently, the benefactor is high amongst Council Space authority, and his identity is to remain classified. The disclosure of this is thick, Captain. I'm thinking more than just something illegal to make the next designer genemod or pharmacological breakthrough. Bio-bomb or designer viral weaponry, perhaps?"
"Not with paleontologists." Sara replied as she folded her arms across her chest, looking to the rest of her available SCI/TECH Team, Detective Garrus Vakarian and Doctor Liara T'soni reviewing information in the hopes of discovering clues others might miss thanks to their professions. "That would mean something extinct or ancient, something no longer present. And Saren was after a Protheantologist on Therum, and his confederate has a daughter who is a noted Protheantologist." Ryder looked over to Liara significantly as the Asarikin went a pale blue at what Sara was suggesting.
"Blessed Goddess! Could they have found…?" The Doctor gasped as Garrus' mandibles went slack as he quickly deduced what the Corpsman was eluding to.
"What?" The N7 asked, looking at her SCI/TECH Department as all five of them now were looking at one another with the implications, each of them struck in wonder.
"Prothean genetic material. Someone must have found surviving DNA somewhere and are trying to create a survivor." Sara replied, informing her Auntie as Captain Jane Shepard's green eyes went wide.
"I think they're trying to clone and revive a Prothean."
Author's Note: So I wanted to use my favorite thug of the original game, Sergeant Kaira Sterling, in as about the most opposite direction as she could be in the game. Originally, she didn't know that there was a Council Agent (which considering that Noveria was a former Human world and Kaira a Human Being) would have to mean that the news of Shepard's induction might not have been as public as we were led to believe. But then again, Khalisah Al-Jilani knew that Shepard was a SPECTRE, and the few people that ask for your help on the Citadel all seemed to know Shepard regardless of his/her history/service. No, Kaira was just a Grade-A Bitch. But in this, I wanted to use her properly.
One of the plotholes of ME1 was Benezia; almost nothing is known of her, how she came to be with Saren, how long, etc. One of the big things I'm going to change in this SuperARC is just that; Lady Matriarch Benezia E'shora Samira of House T'soni. You will know her more and why she included herself with Saren initially, not just the Reaper Brain Jelly explanation.
Blue Diamond/Viagra - Sildenafil is the generic drug that we know as 'Viagra', originally a medication that was meant to alleviate chest pain due to angina pectorus (poor blood flow to the chest/heart, what we use to use nitroglycerin for to alleviate the possibility of heart attacks or pulmonary hypertension). It was found to have an interesting side effect, and in 1996, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer rebranded their product from a heart medication to an erectile dysfunction medication. Pfizer, already a very healthy company, made billions off the 'blue diamond' (coined by the color and shape of the pill, along with the 'V' upon its surface) and today it can be gotten over-the-counter. As long as you don't mind causing pulmonary hypertension in yourself for medicinal abuse for using a medication you don't have any symptoms for (and I remember the 'webnosis' medical prescriptions sponsored by Pfizer to 'ascertain' that someone might need Viagra in the late Ninety's on the [hehehe] WORLD WIDE WEB) [God, did I just reference that? When's the last time anyone's used that term?].
Yes, we all know what the game says about Noveria. But no one knows of that yet. But with all the Prothean stuff that Saren was looking for, you would think the hunt for any Prothean genetic material would be a big find, and cloning even a brain-dead survivor would be a significant thing. I mean, just look how well the movie Jurassic Park did on a fictional account of bringing dinosaurs back to life. Imagine we actually did bring back just one dinosaur, how much we could learn from all the guesses and theories we've had from just bones.