It appears that I may be a touch protective and possibly even possessive of my friends. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know Lexi is logging the details of Mordin's message. All I'm aware of is instant incendiary rage, my biotics surging like a feral beast trying to escape my control, a visible corona of energy flickering around me. The Salarian cabbie notices the surge and with lightning quick reactions plunges the aircab to the ground before I turn his business into an airborne ball of expanding wreckage. Seconds later he pulls off a landing that would make a special ops pilot proud, pops all the cab's doors open and is out of the vehicle and running away to the left for cover. I ignore him as I leave the cab in the other direction, not really aware of my surroundings as I struggle to calm my breathing, to regain control, the biotics surging around my body continuing to gather strength as my rage builds.
I'm dimly aware of the Salarian talking urgently to someone a few short distance behind me to my left, 3 sets of footsteps approaching as I try and focus enough to meditate.
"No no officer, leave her, will leave shortly, surging biotics. Emergency landing will take off soon as is safe."
Officer. Fucking wonderful, I-Sec. I'm desperately trying to wind in my growing rage and biotics and failing miserably. The biotic wave is surging around my system, building, amplifying. Some-one has taken Serah and they are going to die as horribly as I can manage. Two pairs of footsteps separate a little behind me as the third pulls away again.
"Ma'am? I-Sec."
Go away, fuck off, are you really so eager to die?
"Ma'am, I'm an I-Sec officer, I need you to turn around and calm down."
Calm down? What part of me standing rigid, biotic energy coruscating around a set of Colossus armor looks remotely like I have any chance of being fucking calm? Lexi's voice in my helmet breaks into my thoughts.
"Stern. I-Sec have additional officers en route." I flick off the suits external speaker.
"What the fuck. Why?" Stupid question I realise instantly.
"They probably realise they're not equipped to deal with whoever's in the suit of Colossus armor, obviously very pissed and radiating biotic energy, after apparently almost causing a disaster by bringing down an aircab in the middle of a residential zone."
Lexi's sarcasm is making sense but really not needed right now, irrationally making my anger spike hotter. Gods, I need to get rid of this biotic energy, but if I just up and release it Goddess knows what will happen, and I'll have I-Sec all over me. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
"Ma'am!" A lot stronger now, barked out demanding attention. I flick the helm visor to opaque and helm speaker back on, then turn around. Yep, I-Sec. A pair of Asari, which is normal for Illium, not like C-Sec which is saturated with stiff necked Turians. Looking at them the Asari demanding my attention is the shorter of the two officers, but she has more presence, as well as some rank markings I'm not familiar with on her uniform tunic, I guess the other might be a rookie from her taking a back up position as well as the almost palpable fear coming off her. Both are armed but only with pistols, which are drawn but pointed at the ground. Not armored, equipped with pea shooters, I'm not surprised the taller is scared. I'd give her partner kudos for bravery but I'm still trying to avoid going postal.
"I need you to calm down and step away from the vehicle Ma'am."
"Leave me!" Barked out in English the Asari is clearly surprised at being addressed in a Human tongue.
"I can't do that Ma'am. Calm down or I have to take you in." Still respect in the tone, but also traces of condescension and confusion.
I ignore her as she's trying to take control of the situation. The only thing I'm interested in is getting out of this biotic crisis in one piece, this is painful now, and getting worse fast. The vehicle…maybe that would work to ground this energy.…it's a normal aircab, in good condition, clean, well maintained, the Salarian in the back ground takes good care of his ride.
"Salarian, this cab is your property?" I call hoarsely fighting pain.
"Yes, it's mine."
"It's value?" Already big eyes grow larger on the Salarian before he blinks, shakes his head, and then visibly considers for a second, an age for his species.
"Around 37000 credits, it's less than 2 years old."
"How much new?" I demand.
"48400."
"Officer is there any rule against destroying your own property in a public place in Nos Astra?" I'm almost hissing now.
"What?"
I clench my teeth as my biotics surge again, crackling around me. The pair of Asari back up a little.
"I must discharge this energy and I don't think you want that to be in an uncontrolled manner."
The junior officer is quicker to realise what I mean.
"Ah. No there is no such law, although you could be fined for littering or damage to surroundings."
"Okay, Goddess this hurts." The Asari wince as another ripple passes through the biotics gathered around me. "Salarian, I will buy your cab for 54000 credits. Do you accept?"
The I-Sec officers swing their attention to the Salarian, whose face passes through stunned, confused and calculating for a moment. He opens his mouth to speak when the senior officer interrupts him.
"An excellent price Salarian I suggest you take it quickly." The Asari is harsh, insistent.
"Ah, but, oh. Of course. I accept. Ownership documents." His fingers fly over his omnitool.
Lexi reports the transfer of his registration docs and account details to my omnitool in my ear.
"VI pay invoice 54000 credits." A couple of seconds later he confirms the payment to I-Sec, then turns around and starts trotting rapidly away, with only a glance backwards. Looking around I'm not too close to any buildings. I turn back to the Asari officers, and in the distance I see more I-Sec skimmers rapidly approaching. Goddess I hope this works.
"Get back!, I can only hold this a few more seconds."
Thankfully they take a hint and move away some distance while I ignore everything except my biotics, sinking into them, wresting control of the wave now I have an outlet, pouring my anger into my focus, and then picture the most powerful focussed singularity I can imagine, visualising it right in the middle of the downed cab, and throw every erg of the surging energy into it.
ANLWAB
Sergeant Niora Sinu of I-Sec gapes through the front screen of her skimmer as one of the brightest and largest singularities she has seen since her long passed maiden years flashes into space on top of a parked aircab. It's as big as the cab! Athame's tits she thought while at the same time urging the driver to get the squad on the ground. Lakti and Priasa are near that! Corporal Lakti's open feed from the ground relays the noise as the intensely focussed biotic event took the vehicle and crumples it like foil, the sounds of metals, glass, ceramics and plastics shearing and being crushed as she watches the wreckage compresses to a fraction of original size in seconds, before dropping out of sight into the crater torn in the grounds where the edge of the singularity hit it, its rim carved sharp like a blade, as the singularity ends. She loses her view as the driver swings the vehicle down into place across the road, then sprints out as the hatches open around the skimmer to reinforce her colleagues, her squad assuming a wide spread formation to envelope the armored biotic alone beside the crater.
"Stand down! Stand down!" Lakti's voice calls out over the coms. "Hold fire!"
In the face of a display of biotics a Matron would be proud of that seems crazy, but Sinu trusts her team and lets Lakti lead for now as she knows the situation. A quick hand signal and her 8 strong squad lower their weapons from the armored biotic, although they remain spread out and with a very wary eye on the figure which had slumped down to one knee at the end of the singularity and now pushes herself back up. Colossus armor, and a custom job as well, Sinu noted. That suit probably, no definitely, cost more than her entire squad's load out. Quickly satisfying herself that her squad was still well positioned, she switches to a private channel while staying focussed on the biotic.
"Corporal what's the Goddess damned situation?" Not all precincts are the same in Nos Astra, but in hers any call for back up gets an immediate response rather than waiting for every detail, so right now she needs that detail!
"Aircab almost dropped out of the sky on top of this residential block. Emergency landing when the passenger let out an intense visible biotic field while airborne. Pilot landed without crashing, hit the emergency shutdown, popped all the hatches and bailed towards us. We called for backup when we saw biotics radiating from inside. The passenger is over there, she emerged from the cab on the other side, still emitting a visible biotic field, and was facing away from us. We made ourselves known, she ignored us. We approached and demanded attention, she told us to leave her alone, in a Human language!"
"A Human produced that?" Sinu asks incredulously as she waves at the crater. That was…Humans don't have biotics that strong do they? "Never mind, obviously she did. What happened next?"
"I told her she had to calm down or I'd have to take her in." Sinu glances at her junior.
"You were going to take in a biotic in a Colossus suit?"
"Stalling for time and taking control of the situation Sergeant."
"And?"
"She asked me if it was legal to destroy your own property in public. We advised her yes but she could be fined for damage to the area. Next thing she demands the value of the aircab from the driver then pays him about 10% over new market value for ownership. Tells us to get back again. The biotic field was increasing in intensity and she was obviously in pain staying in control. She warned is she was about to lose control and we retreated out of the way and then she drops that singularity on the cab." Lakti looks back at the Human by the crater shakes her head and shudders.
"You okay Corp?"
"Yeah, Sarg, just…there wouldn't have been even a Goddess damned smear left of us if I tried to take her in would there? I wasn't expecting…that."
The Sergeant waves the patrol back behind the rest of the to recover their wits, checks positioning again and then walks calmly towards the armored Human after deciding how to deal with the situation if possible.
ANLWAB
Relief. It's such a relief to have that biotic surge out of my system. My whole nervous system felt like it as burning before the discharge. Once I have recovered enough to stand up properly I look down into the crater my singularity caused and lying at the bottom a roughly spherical mass of metal, plastics and dirt compressed into rock. Fucking A, it's impressive as hell to know I did that, not that I expect I'll manage to do it again anytime soon, but even the possibility is pretty incredible.
An Asari matron in I-Sec armor walks up beside me, studying the crater.
"Impressive control Ma'am."
"Pardon me Officer?"
"I wasn't aware that Human biotics had developed this much…that crater rim shows how sharply confined and controlled your singularity was and given the amount of power in it shown by the state of that aircab I'm rather glad your control was so developed. Otherwise the damage could have been extensive. I also appreciate your warning my colleagues that you were nearing the end of your control of the surge. You understand however I do need some information now so I can file this incident away."
Glad I-Sec seem to want to be reasonable I nod while I start working out what to tell her.
"My name is Sergeant Niora Suni, Nos Astra 8th Precinct I-Sec. Yours?"
"Natalia Stern." At least that ID is solid after Aria's people created records so I exist electronically. Not that I actually have anything else I can tell her.
"I'm sure I would be aware of you if you were local, the armor alone would get you noticed. Been on Illium long?" Great a perceptive cop.
"No, roughly 10 days."
"The purpose of your visit?"
"Mix of business and pleasure, unrelated to this." I gesture at the crater. Let's move the conversation away from Omega, Aria and experimental biotics.
"And what is this related to?" Of course that wasn't necessarily the best way to change the topic.
Sergeant Suni is watching me calmly as I ponder what to say but also looking quite determined. She can afford to be with a whole squad behind her. After a moment I reply.
"I got a call from an acquaintance, with some rather bad news that made me angry. A situation I am now going to have to resolve."
"That must be quite some bad situation Miss Stern, a biotic that powerful or controlled doesn't have a surge over just anything. I think you should tell me more."
I can just picture it now, I have a friend who's been abducted from Omega, by an unknown number of bounty hunters probably on their way here, might be landing soon, oh by the way she is wanted for terrorism on Illium because her mum's a bitch who had her framed by Temple commandos. That will go down so well with I-Sec.
"My apologies Sergeant I don't think I should involve I-Sec at this time."
There's a long pause as Sinu studies me before she snorts and shakes her head.
"I have a horrible feeling I-Sec will be getting involved at some point but right now you're free to go Stern. I want your comm code so I can have cleanup billed to you, given your care ensuring my officers were not harmed I will not issue a fine at this time. Here's my comm in case you have anything else you need to tell me in relation to this or your new situation."
I swap comm codes and watch as the I-Sec squad depart in a minute, leaving me alone to wonder how the hells I get Serah back, and what extra attention Natalia Stern will have as a result of this little incident. Damn sure my little display will be logged somewhere and on Illium everything is for sale. Furti's probably gonna kill me. Shit.
ANLWAB
As I complete my journey in another air cab, marginally surprised that one actually came when I called, I go over the information Mordin included in his message. I have the name of the ship he thinks Serah was abducted from Omega on. The Thursti V isn't much, it's just a medium sized passenger and light cargo hauler that does a regular round trip between Omega and Illium, one of quite a few, very non-descript. I guess the bounty hunters who picked her up don't have the credits for their own ship, or to charter a private run. I have to admit that the hunters did time their pick up well, the ship had left Omega within 2 hours of the footage Mordin had hacked from the security systems at Omega's docks. Serah was shown being walked onto the ship in restraints between a pair of Turians in unmarked armor onto the ship's boarding tube, and there was no footage of her coming back out. Whether that was all of her captors was unknown. Not a lot to go on.
I check the time and the ship's itinerary – I have roughly a local day until the ship is due back in system, and it's scheduled to land at Nos Astra's main space port tomorrow evening roughly an hour after sun set. Not a lot of time. The aircab drops me off and I ponder my next steps as I quickly stride down the block to meet Furti. Truthfully I don't know where to start, so I guess I'm gonna have to ask my trainers.
"Lexi, do you need to be in the vicinity of Nos Astra Starport to gain access to their systems, or would it be possible to gain access remotely?"
"I can attempt access remotely but I am unable to determine the possibility of success until I attempt it."
"Attempt to get access to their systems, however the priority is to avoid detection at this time, if access is not possible without being detected then cease attempts and notify me."
"Understood. I will begin working and update you."
"Thanks Lexi."
5 minutes later I'm through the security system, and walk over to where Furti is chatting with Balicus and Edistur.
"You're late." Furti is unamused. The two Turians are smirking, as they obviously expect me to get my ass kicked again as a result.
"I know, unfortunately that's not the bad news for the day. We have problems."
"What's happened?"
"Serah was abducted, I got a comm saying she's probably being brought to Illium."
That statement gets everyone's immediate attention and I lay out what I know, which takes seconds as I have precious little information. Furti is irritated that I got I-Sec's attention but concedes I had cause to be pissed. That's as good as I can hope for and I still expect to get my ass handed to me later but for now more important things take priority. My Asari trainer looks at me for a long moment then curses she already knows that doing nothing is not an option.
"I'll make some calls. You two want in?" Furti asks the Turians who look at each other and shrug.
"Who's the opposition?" Edistur asks. Furti looks at me, and it occurs to me that she might not know Serah's history. It's not like it's my story to tell but if I want their help they deserve to know what a mess they might be getting in to.
"Bounty hunters and possibly Asari family or temple commandos."
"What? Why?" Furti's surprise there confirms my guess. How the hell do I explained that fucked up situation?
"Serah was framed for terrorism after she witnessed a murder committed by a temple priestess. She's wanted on Illium and been on the run from bounty hunters ever since."
I think that's the first time I have seen Furti speechless.