Chapter 43: A Secret Worth Dying For

Jack returned to the bookshelf as fast as he could ignoring Cora's long winded political speech. He felt like he was in the middle of a cult meeting where the people in it think far too highly of themselves. Did they not realize the Alliance wanted Humanity to thrive just as much as these people claimed they wanted it to? The difference was that the Alliance, mostly, saw the other races as potential allies and even friends. The battle for the Citadel should've highlighted that they were capable of extraordinary achievements when they all worked together. Cora, and Cerberus as a whole, believed that only Humanity should have the responsibility of protecting the galaxy. He was a little terrified by how many people in the audience clapped and ate up the rhetoric.

Vetra's mandibles clung close to her face when she saw him race down the stairs, "What's happening up there? You look worried."

Jack gave his omni tool to Kasumi so she could get Hock's audio, "Cora Harper just arrived, and is giving quite the speech to rally the troops."

Her eyes grew wide and she looked back up the stairs, "Shit! She didn't see you did she? What about Kal and Garrus?"

He tried to calm her down with a sympathetic glance, "I couldn't help it unfortunately, she's Hock's guest of honor. She definitely knew we're all here, probably the BadAss Weekly article."

Jack knew he should've mentioned Lantar Sidonis was with Cora and was probably the one to kidnap Sidera but, right now that was risky. Just dropping Cora's name was enough to make Vetra shake. He needed her focused on getting in and out of the vault with her sister, not thinking about doing something unpredictable. If he had to guess, Garrus and Kal would take care of it if they got the opportunity even though Cora obviously wanted a confrontation before she disappeared for good. He doubted she was actually going to retire but, she may try to lie low while bounty hunters and the Collectors were after her. Hopefully, Tali would be able to keep them in line for awhile at least.

Vetra marched towards Kasumi and shoved her into a wall, "You knew didn't you?! You knew Hock's party wasn't going to be for Hock himself! How dare you put me, Garrus, and Kal in this position?! Is my sister even in the vault? Or did you just use all of us so you could be with your dead boyfriend again...? HUH?! ANSWER ME!"

Kasumi was struggling against Vetra's stronger, taller Turian grip, "I knew, but we didn't have a choice! If we had spent three hours arguing about not going, the party would've been over and your sister would've been sold off. You have to let me go so I can unlock the door."

When Vetra didn't let go, Jack started pulling her back, "Mand, I need you to listen to me now. Yes she lied, and yes it put us in a tight spot but, we are so close now. We can beat her up after we get you and your sister out of here to someplace safe."

Vetra nodded and reluctantly let her go, "I swear, if this was all just a setup I'll kill you first."

Kasumi rolled her eyes and walked to the keypad, "No need to be so dramatic, when have I ever actually let you down?"

She played a short clip of Hock speaking only for a synthetic voice to respond, "Welcome Mr. Hock, password required."

The color in his cheeks must've drained from his face with those words. It seemed obvious now that just getting a random clip of Hock talking wasn't going to cut it but, he hadn't been thinking. The problem was that he couldn't just go back upstairs and ask him what his password was, going back and forth was already suspicious. Even if Jack could find Hock's personal quarters and miraculously find the password, they didn't have that kind of time. Cora's speech was going to be over soon and Jack only saw two possible endings. She would either provoke one of his other team members to the point that all hell broke loose, or the auction would go on as planned. Both options left Vetra and her sister apart for decades at the very least, even though right now they were only separated by a doorway.

Vetra cleared her throat and stared at the ceiling, "Well...I guess right this second is a good a place as any to start."

Kasumi held up a finger, "Don't give up just yet. I can hack the controls to make another password."

Donovan's voice made the three of them draw their weapons and spin around, "Peruggia."

Aria T'Loak was standing in the doorway holding up her activated omni tool and looked angry. She must've been watching Jack go back and forth from the bookshelf to follow him down here. The real question though was what was her motivation to come at all? Her conversation with Vetra and Garrus earlier made it seem like she was still bitter about what happened on Omega so, he doubted it was to help them. At the same time though, Aria seemed to hate Hock's guts so she obviously wasn't here to help them get caught. Jack just assumed there was something in the vault that Aria wanted and she decided working with them helped her more than getting into a competition.

The synthetic voice behind them broke the tense silence, "Password accepted, welcome to your vault Donovan."

Kasumi relaxed first and headed towards the opening door, "The man to steal the Mona Lisa. Hock's got nice tastes."

Vetra was still pretty tense as she stared at Aria, "What are you doing here? Really? Because the Aria I know hated slave traders and didn't participate in auctioning anyone."

Aria ignored her and followed Kasumi, "I'm here to show everyone up there what happens when they break my one rule. Hock thought he could sell a relative of one of my top advisors from right under my nose and get away with it. He's about to learn how wrong he is. And I was sick of watching amateur hour. If it wasn't for me, you three would be stuck outside right now."

Kasumi scoffed while holding the elevator door open, "Amateur hour would've been us showing up without any plan at all. This was just a combination of not having a lot of time to plan for specifics and Hock changing his security."

Jack followed the other two women into the vault elevator with Vetra right behind him, "We appreciate it. Let's get Sid out of here."

Vetra shuffled around from foot to foot staring at Aria, "I'm sorry.. For everything."

Aria kept her gaze straight ahead, "I don't want to talk about it." She tapped the down button a few more times, "Does this thing not go any faster?"

Vetra timidly put her hand on the back of Aria's shoulder, "Too bad because I do. I...I-"

Unfortunately, Vetra was interrupted when a large boom shook the elevator and the lights went out. Jack had been expecting Kal and Garrus to attack eventually but, he assumed they would wait until after he confirmed they had Sidera. Maybe Cora had said something that provoked one of them, or she attacked first. Thinking about it though, Jack realized neither one of them had the firepower in their undercover disguises to cause that kind of explosion. It was possible Cora had attacked all of them but, it was more likely a third party had entered the fray and was causing trouble. Maybe Zaeed was here to collect his bounty.

EDI was in his ear, "Shepard, multiple Alliance shuttles have arrived and are firing on the Normandy. They seem intent on killing us."

Jack wanted to punch something, this was the nightmare scenario playing out before his eyes. Feron had warned them that the Alliance was going to come after him but, he didn't think they would be looking in BadAss Weekly for him. Ashley and Arnold must've really wanted his head if they were willing to come into Terminus Space to get him. Wait a minute, what was the Alliance thinking?! Had they really just broken the Treaty of Torfan? With Aria actually here, that almost guaranteed another war between the Alliance and the full might of the Terminus. Who would've been stupid enough to make that decision? The AIA probably. Jack guessed that if they honestly believed he was working with the Collectors, stopping him was a calculated risk.

He tried to comm the others but they were being jammed, "EDI do not return fire, do you hear me? Get the others on the ship and move around to pick us up by the vault."

EDI replied, "Affirmative, though the ground team might not have much choice. I'm already detecting a firefight inside the estate."

Kasumi leaned towards his arm, "Try and get the elevator moving if you can. Otherwise we're stuck in here."

Jack was relieved when EDI answered, "Working as fast as I can. It may be several moments before I can integrate with Mr. Hock's software."

Aria was on her omni tool as well and was somehow getting past the jam, "Light em up Bray. You have permission to engage, make sure they regret this."

Vetra gave her a terrified glance, "No, don't do this, don't start a war. You can leave right now and not have to be a part of this."

Aria glared at her, "I'm not starting anything, the Alliance did when they entered my territory and started shooting. I'm not just going to lay down to give you a better conscience."

He knew he couldn't stop her no matter what he wanted. First of all, she was right, the Alliance had shot first. The shooting wasn't at her specifically but, it wasn't hard to imagine the Alliance not minding Aria getting killed in collateral damage. Jack could point his pistol at her and order her to stop this, he just knew that wouldn't achieve anything. If the Alliance was willing to go this far, they meant it and may have been ready to go for the kill. His options were to turn himself in right now to prevent a war, only to let Sovereign kill everyone, or continue the fight against the Collectors. Millions were going to die if he let this war begin, but trillions more would die if he surrendered now. Jack hated thinking in terms of raw numbers and not the people involved but, he had to keep going until the Reapers were destroyed.

Vetra's eyes widened and her voice grew higher in pitch, "Me?! Your the one ordering people to start shooting! Don't you dare blame this on me!"

Aria stormed forward getting directly in her face, "And why do you think I'm here right now? Believe me, I'd much rather just sit on my couch, have a glass of wine, and forget you ever existed! But I can't so here we fucking are!"

Jack put himself between them as fast as he could, "That is uncalled for Aria, Vetra didn't ask for this and you know it-"

Aria interrupted him staring at her, "So it's Vetra now? I see you want to forget Omega ever happened and just move on with your life."

Vetra's voice cracked like she was going to start crying, "You put a bounty on my head to get me killed! What was I supposed to do? Just keep running around as me and hope for the best? You know how that would go..."

The door opened and Kasumi walked through it, "Let's get what we came for before you two have make up sex shall we?"

Saying the vault was impressive didn't really do it justice. All sorts of paintings hung on the walls from seemingly every era imaginable and he also recognized several marble statues from Earth. He rushed to the statue of Saren first and got their weapons and armor from it. They were going to have to fight their way out of here after all, just from the Alliance instead of Hock's security. He quickly stripped down to his under suit to put on his palladium armor, letting the others look around. He just had to hope this was worth it, otherwise he helped start a war for nothing.

Vetra just started yelling, "Sid?! Sidera are you in here?! Talk to me!"

Aria pointed to a large crate, "She's probably in there. Looks like a shipping container from offworld."

Vetra ran towards it with her pistol drawn, "Sid?! If your awake I need you to move as far back from the lock as you can. I'm coming in."

She waited just a few seconds before shooting the lock and kicking the door down. Jack watched as she ran inside the large crate only to emerge carrying a potentially unconscious Turian teenage girl. His gut twisted in knots when Vetra urgently put her back on the ground and was patting her mandible repeatedly. She was begging for Sid to wake up and tears were streaming down her face. When the girl didn't immediately answer, Vetra silently rested her head on Sids and was shaking. He rushed to her side to see Sidera was naked from head to toe and marks of ownership had been branded onto her plates.

Jack took a sigh of relief when he scanned her with his omni tool, "Mand, Mand look! She's alive, just drugged up to sleep."

Vetra let out a tiny sob at the heartbeat and picked Sidera back up, "Oh Spirits, thank you.. I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

He smiled before calling the Normandy, "EDI, tell Chakwas to get the medbay ready. We have an unconscious Turian here with unknown injuries. How far away are you?"

EDI lit up his tool with her orb representation, "Feron estimated he would be back with the rest of the crew within two minutes. If that assessment holds, we should arrive at your location within three. I suggest blowing a hole in the wall I highlighted on the blueprint for the quickest extraction."

Aria nodded and started walking in that direction, "I'll handle the wall, you make sure our thief friend takes the virtual reality goggles off and is ready to go."

He was confused about what she meant until he saw Kasumi. She was standing in the middle of the room seemingly talking to a statue of a naked man but, her eyes were covered with glowing blue glasses. That had to be the graybox, she couldn't just wait until after they left to open it? Jack understood it was Kasumi's significant other inside but, they had just started a war. It was hard not to feel extremely frustrated though because if the situation was reversed, he would've wanted to say goodbye to Kal if they hadn't gotten an actual opportunity to as soon as possible. Unfortunately, they had to get out of here before the Alliance sunk the estate or physically got down here.

Jack was about to say something when he could hear a male voice coming from her glasses, "Kasumi. If you're seeing this, it's because I'm dead. The information we found is all here. You know how big it is Kasumi. If the Council ever got wind of this... the Alliance could be implicated. Which is why I had to let Hock kill me. Kasumi, I... I encrypted the information to keep it safe. And I uploaded the encryption key to your graybox, so no one besides you could get the whole package. It includes two tickets for the Nexus, I want you to use them and get out with the Initiative. The only way they won't want to kill you too is if you join them. But if I'm dead... then I've made you a target, my love. I'm so, so sorry. I just knew we wouldn't survive anymore here, you can still have a good life. It'll just have to be without me..."

Kasumi moved her hand to cup an invisible cheek, "Keiji..."

Keiji kept talking like he hadn't heard her, "I know you, Kasumi. You'll want to keep these memories forever. But you don't need some neural implant to know I'll always be with you. Just take the tickets and destroy the graybox. Promise me."

A sudden hail of gunfire from the elevator made Jack grab Kasumi's arm and pull them both into cover. He heard Vetra scream from behind him and saw two bullets had hit Sid in the side. Blue blood started gushing out of her as Vetra desperately carried her to a safe spot behind several statues. Out of pure instinct, Jack drew his assault rifle and started returning fire to cover her retreat. He instantly felt a pang of regret as he realized he just killed a few Alliance soldiers. Ashley was leading them and dashed to cover barking orders to the survivors. Well, now he could add actual murder to the list of growing criminal charges.

Ashley yelled over the noise, "I knew you were working with Cerberus, but I had no idea how deep it went. Letting them kidnap people for experiments? Killing Alliance soldiers? How dare you betray us like that?"

Jack fired a few shots that intentionally missed but not by much to keep the soldiers where they were, "How could you even say that Williams?! You were on Horizon for god sakes!"

She shot an entire clip at his cover making him scramble to the next statue, "Yeah I was but you know what I just found out? Cerberus and the Collectors are working together. And after Torfan, I don't doubt you'd work with them too if you thought Kal's life was in danger."

Jack had no choice but to return fire to keep Vetra and Sidera safe, "The entire galaxy is a lot different than the crew of the Einstein. I regret it every day, do you honestly think I'd do it again? Think for one minute Williams."

Ashley just kept advancing and firing at them, "I am, and what I'm seeing tells me you are going to have to be put down."

He didn't want to have to kill her, she had been part of his crew. However, if the Normandy didn't get here soon, he was going to have to. It was clear she had no intention of letting him surrender to let the others go. This was personal for her now.