Chapter 18: Black Sheep
Liara
"Liara." Nyxeris's voice drifted through the doorway as she approached. I held up a hand to stop her, finishing my message before looking up.
"You asked to be notified if Commander Shepard came to Illium," Nyxeris continued. "The Normandy has just requested docking permission with Nos Astra."
I closed my console straight away, my chest tightening with it at the thought of the meeting ahead, as well as the subsequent conversation that would go with it. "Thank you Nyxeris. Notify traffic control that the Normandy's fees may be put on my account. I'll be leaving the office as well," I ordered. I cleared my desk, locking everything away promptly within its drawers.
"Are you going to the docks?" Nyxeris asked.
"Merely concluding the evening early," I answered, leveling a look at her. Occasionally Nyxeris got a little too nosy into my affairs, but she was usually an excellent assistant.
"I have another batch of information on the Observer. If you'd like to look at it before you go?" Nyxeris offered.
I looked at the datapad in her hand, tempted. Hunting for information on the Shadow Broker had begun to feel like a drug. The high I got after getting an inch closer was indescribable, but the feeling when I was forced a few steps backwards...I shook my head at my assistant.
"I trust you to summarize it for me. Send it to my omni-tool. Use the secure connection," I reminded her.
"Of course," Nyxeris replied.
I breezed past her, smoothing at my skirt while I walked. The docks were close at least, though that meant less time to compose my thoughts, thoughts that were bouncing around my head like insects. The usual noise of the markets outside of my office was annoying, the people milling about the displays even more so. One good biotic push would have everyone cleared out of my way, but I didn't.
"Ah, Dr. T'Soni! Good to see you again," Gianna Parasini called from a nearby table, nursing a drink.
"Ms. Parasini," I greeted her. "I guess it's not a surprise to see you in this district again."
I followed her eyes to an asari that was running a kiosk a few meters away, just outside of the bar, Eternity. Gianna took another sip out of her drink and smiled at me, waving to the seat next to her. I didn't take it.
"Care to join me?" she asked.
I shook my head, smiling back. "Not this time, I think. You'll have to catch your marks all on your own," I declined, pursing my lips.
The first week I'd arrived on Illium, the woman had managed to trick me—playing off our previous association on Noveria—into distracting someone she was trying to take down. I didn't mind much; she was just doing her job. However, I prided myself that I was not so naive as during our last encounter, and I did need to be somewhere.
"Pity. Well, I'm sure I'll still see you around," she replied, waving me off while still subtly watching the other asari.
The dock was just up ahead. I rounded the corner, waving at the docking administrators behind their large counter before walking right past them. Just a few more meters and then...there. Shepard stood just down the corridor, surrounded by a whole gaggle of characters. I recognized them from my reports, the violent biotic named Jack, a young krogan I'd yet to discover a name for, a grizzled mercenary, and the doctor Mordin Solus. Miranda and Jacob I knew as well, and I smiled to Garrus close to Shepard's side, followed closely by Tali, though I hadn't realized Tali had joined the Normandy.
Shepard still hadn't seen me, her face twisted with confusion as she spoke to the docking attendant. Her newly dark auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail, though the untidy tangles were obvious even from here, and I found myself smiling. It was good to see that some things never changed. Her eyes lifted, green locking onto mine, and her steps faltered. I finally stepped closer to them.
"Team, take an hour to yourselves but don't go far. We've still got things to take care of this morning. EDI should have uploaded a map to everyone's omni-tools, so we'll meet at the taxi stand. Dismissed," Shepard ordered. Her crew began to wander away from her, though Garrus and Tali still stayed. Miranda also walked away, the sight of her twisting my stomach though she didn't even deign to meet my gaze.
"Wait, Miranda? Where are you going?" Shepard asked. "I thought we were going to meet your contact."
"I can handle that on my own, Commander," Miranda replied. "It's merely preparations. Besides–" Miranda's eyes finally met mine with a chilling starkness– "I'm sure Liara isn't pleased to see me again."
Shepard's brow furrowed, her eyes watching Miranda leave a moment longer before she finally turned to me. My heart started flips in my chest, churning my stomach as she looked at me with obvious wariness. I wanted to cry, seeing her again, more so that I knew what conversation lay before us. Still, Shepard was beautiful and steady, and I wanted to fling myself into her arms, no matter what reasonings I used to keep myself away from her.
I allowed myself one moment of weakness and closed the gap between us, hesitating only once before cupping her face in my hands. Her eyes shuttered closed, and I pressed my lips to hers, remembering their softness, the security of her touch. I reached out to brush against her mind almost on instinct, internally bracing myself for the intensity that was Shepard's thoughts. It had taken several links to get used to, that feeling of plunging myself into water that was so cold it felt like burning. Yet, as I connected now, I was drowned in the opposite. Her mind surrounded me like heat so intense my nerves felt overloaded. Fire so hot I felt cold.
The entire exchange lasted barely a few seconds before Shepard's mind slammed hard against me, walls flinging shut and sending me mentally stumbling back as the same time Shepard pulled away from our kiss. She didn't have the training of an asari that would make the barrier strong enough to keep me out, but the message was clear. I felt her stream of anger before our contact was broken completely while my own emotions reeled with the implications. How much does a person have to change before their very mind feels different?
"Sorry," I apologized. My cheeks felt flushed, even more so with Garrus and Tali looking between Shepard and me with obvious surprise. The direction of Shepard's gaze was over my head—at Miranda? I wondered. Jealousy pooled in my stomach—but when Shepard did drop her chin, it was with a small smile for me.
"It's alright," Shepard muttered. "I wasn't sure I'd see you."
"You come back from the dead, and you expect me to ignore you?" I asked, trying to sound playful.
"You've done a good job of it so far," Shepard replied, and her smile turned bitter.
My words caught in my throat at her tone, and I dropped my eyes just briefly to the ground. It was all I needed to steel myself, remember that I was not the same as two years ago. I was stronger. I may still be young in asari terms, but I was not a child, no longer.
"You can imagine the position I was in Shepard," I answered coolly. "I have a different life now."
"Yeah, I heard you've turned into an information broker," Shepard said. Her voice betrayed nothing, and I couldn't tell if she thought that a good development or a bad one.
"I have. With a little imagination, I can convince myself it's similar to my former research," I replied. That did get somewhat of a smile.
I turned to Garrus and Tali, who were still hovering behind Shepard, albeit rather awkwardly.
"I'm so glad to see you two again," I greeted them.
"Yeah, me too. Look, we'll just go for a walk. Leave you two to catch up," Garrus offered.
Shepard rolled her eyes at him. "That's not really necessary–"
"Actually," I broke in, looking at Shepard. "I had something to take care of this evening over near the Tracking Office. I wouldn't mind the company."
She stared at me, wavering. "Alright. But Garrus? I'd like you to start looking for the asari Justicar, Samara, while I'll take care of finding Thane Krios. Just make sure you're back at the meeting time with everyone else, " Shepard ordered.
"We'll be crossing paths then. I suggest starting by asking after Officer Dara at the Tracking Office," I offered to him.
"On it," Garrus replied. He gave a salute to Shepard that seemed sarcastic coming from him, then set on his way with Tali close behind. I didn't miss the way Tali hadn't said a word the entire exchange, though our correspondence had tapered off to a mere trickle these past two years. I had drifted away from nearly everyone, actually. Maybe it was time for me to renew my efforts.
"Do you actually have an errand to run?" Shepard asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Or was that just to get them out of here?"
"There's an errand," I assured her, leading the two of us out of the docking area.
I walked with the mostly silent Shepard as we passed the Trading Floor. I pointed out the window that marked the location of my office, and Shepard nodded politely. I indicated the direction of the nearby nightclub and marked the locations of several shops for her, feeling more and more like a tour guide as the soldier by my side insisted on remaining quiet.
"What are you doing?" Shepard asked finally as we approached the first terminal I planned to hack into.
"Hacking into this terminal. I can make a nearby system vulnerable to get what I need," I explained.
Shepard narrowed her eyes at me. "Hardly legal."
"It isn't," I answered. I retrieved the scrap of data I was looking for, then turned to look at her directly. "I'm trying to find the Shadow Broker. He captured a drell who helped me, Feron, and I refuse to leave him there."
"Helped you with what?" Shepard asked. I froze.
"Something important," I deflected. Nothing is as important as retrieving the corpse of your dead lover, right? I moved to the second terminal on my list, repeating the process while Shepard trailed behind, having fallen back into her silent brooding. It was, at least, something I had gotten used to all those years ago.
"How do you know Miranda?" Shepard asked as we neared the third terminal, my patience rewarded by her breaking the silence on her own.
I sighed. "I don't, not really," I partially lied. "We've crossed paths before. Miss Lawson leaves an impression."
"That she does," Shepard muttered. "It's just not always a good one."
I nodded softly and moved to the fourth terminal, making quick work of that one as well. Good. The last one was by my office, forgotten as I'd led Shepard by it, but I could take care of it tomorrow on my way back into work. Shepard trailed me closely all the while, barely a breath in between us. I felt the warmth of her at my back, the solidness of her presence as close as she could get without walking into me.
"Shepard," I breathed out. "Are we going to talk about this?"
Her eyes dropped. "About what?"
"This," I motioned between us. "Us."
"If that's what you want," she acquiesced.
I grabbed her hand. "I still love you," I admitted.
"I'm sensing a 'but.' That's exactly how you started the conversation after you told me you didn't want to marry me," Shepard said, her mouth tight at the corners.
"I meant it," I insisted. "Just like I mean it now. But I'm not the same person I was before, and I don't think you are either. I'm not sure I see us having a future together."
"I never had time to change into a different person," Shepard stated. Her mouth twisted with a grimace as she held her jaw tight. "But I don't understand how so much could change for you in only two years."
"Maybe nothing did, and that's the problem. The same issues will come between us again, just like before. I wanted to go back to my work, but to leave the Normandy meant I would never see you. You wanted marriage and kids, but I'm still so young. You were always in danger. You died," I emphasized. I didn't realize how much that had made my decision until those words tumbled out of mouth. "My feelings for you never changed, but we were being pulled apart by our problems long before the first Normandy was attacked. If love were enough..."
"But it's not. It's not enough," Shepard finished for me again. Her face was crumpling, freckles stretched with a grimace instead of the smile I so loved.
"It's not enough for you either," I continued. "I remember your face when I said I wouldn't marry you."
Shepard was silent, her eyes closed. Her breath came slowly; her jaw was tight. I reached for her, but she side stepped my embrace as she turned her face away.
"I'm sorry," I added.
"I–I understand," Shepard said, looking at me once more. "Won't you come with me anyway? I could still use your help."
The emotion in her eyes was enough to feel like a dagger going straight through me, the pain anticipating her reaction to my response.
"I can't. My work is too important–" I began.
"Yes. The Shadow Broker. Feron," Shepard interrupted me. The words were venomous.
"Shepard, please. You can't tell me if I were trapped somewhere, you wouldn't do everything in your power to find me," I tried.
"That is not the same thing, and you know it. You're choosing some drell over me," Shepard asserted, grimacing.
"It's cruel of you to put it down to a choice," I replied, clenching my jaw.
"And pointless wouldn't you say? When we both know what your choice would be," Shepard said, her voice grown soft.
I resisted the urge to reach out to her, knowing she wouldn't wish my comfort. Still, I knew I had misstepped. Shepard had always been overly sensitive to 'choices,' namely those between people. Kaidan or Ashley. Elise or her team. Her mother choosing duty over daughter. All those secrets and all that pain whispered to me across the pillow, our limbs intertwined.
"He saved my life," I soothed.
Her anger was back. "And I haven't?" Shepard snapped. She turned her face away, working her jaw as she took a deep breath through her nose. I wondered what it would be like to go back to the first time she'd saved me in that Prothean ruin. How silly I'd been back then. "You're reluctant even to tell me what he had to save you from. Why?"
"It–" I sighed, coming to a decision– "It's not fully my story to tell. You should ask Miss Lawson. "
"Well, I'm asking you." Shepard shook her head stubbornly.
"I was the one who recovered your body," I started, turning away when Shepard's expression fell dangerously flat. I tipped my chin up to look strong, a mental fortification against some of the most trying weeks of my life. "Cerberus asked for help keeping your body away from the Shadow Broker, during which Feron was captured." I paused, biting my lip. "In the end, I didn't want to give your body to them."
"So why did you?" she asked.
I turned away from her. "You have Miss Lawson to thank for that. Though I suppose you wouldn't be alive otherwise," I said grudgingly.
"Which explains how you know Miranda. Figures." She walked around so I would be facing her again. "What did she do?" Shepard asked.
"At first, nothing. I was just someone who had been close to you and was willing to take on the task. Then she learned of our relationship and…"
"Exploited it," Shepard guessed, scowling.
"Mercilessly," I confirmed. "Anytime I wavered. And, Goddess, if at the end she didn't get everything she wanted."
"I'm not sure how I tricked myself into believing Cerberus just went to the crash site and scraped me off the ground," Shepard growled, seemingly to herself. She glanced down at her omni-tool, her frown deepening before locking eyes with me again, surprised to see tenderness still present in them after our conversation. "I'm sorry you went through that."
I looked past her to the taxi stand where her team had assembled, though a certain Cerberus operative was noticeably absent. However, it was painfully clear that our time was up, in more ways than one.
"Your team is waiting for you." I directed her. The change in her at the words was noticeable: chin up, eyes determined, no evidence at all that our conversation had affected her. "But allow me to still offer what help I can. You're looking for Thane Krios? I have reason to believe he's taken a contract on Nassana Dantius."
"Nassana?" Shepard confirmed, her voice easily slipping into her business tone. "Well, I can't say I'll miss her. How can I find him?"
"I would assume by finding Nassana," I answered.
Shepard scoffed. "It's not like she's going to invite me to tea. I'm just as likely to kill her as the assassin," Shepard pointed out. "Not to mention, if she's as paranoid as she used to be, she's bound to have a ton of security. There's got to be a better way than me starting a firefight in the middle of the city."
"I could–" I hummed to myself. "Well, I could help you trace who hired him."
"That could work," Shepard agreed, but her voice was steely. "I can have Garrus work with you. Potentially meet Thane when he goes to meet his employer and exchange payment."
"And Nassana? Assassinating her?" I asked.
Shepard stared at me, and the look was surprisingly cold. "If this guy is as good as he's supposed to be, Nassana won't be difficult for him. Otherwise, well, he would've been useless to me anyway," Shepard said with a shrug. "And I could care less what happens to Nassana."
I was silent, almost stunned with her callousness, but I managed to reply, "Well, I'll need my equipment. I can't do all of that from an omni-tool."
Shepard hummed and nodded but paused before going to her team. She held my gaze, jaw tight and eyes glassy as she took my hands for one last time.
"Liara. What we spoke of earlier...I hope you know you can't expect me to wait for you to change your mind. Not this time. I love you, but–"
I squeezed her fingers and finished for her, the words she had already spoke to me, "It's not enough."
Shepard nodded and motioned her hand for me to follow, leading us over to the gathered team. She walked just like I remembered from the Normandy SR-1, the confident gait that would never falter, never reveal something might be wrong. I blinked away tears, desperate to keep them from falling as she turned away from me to address her team, and all I could think was Goddess, what have I done?
XXX
Garrus
Illium, for all intents and purposes, was starting to feel like a small vacation. This was no backwater planet we had to land on and shoot our way through. No, Illium was delightfully mild in temperature and possessed a bar or nightclub on almost every block. Of course there was work to be done—we were scheduled to stay here for the next four days at least—but I didn't doubt Shepard planned on giving us at least an evening off. I already had plans.
Samara, at least, hadn't been difficult to locate. One conversation with Officer Dara and it was confirmed that the asari Justicar was at a nearby spaceport that was only a few miles to the west. However, said port was also, much to my inconvenience, closed off, though at least that meant the Justicar wasn't leaving either.
There was still time before we needed to meet back with Shepard, so Tali and I headed to the nearby gun kiosk while Tali pretended not to be watching Shepard's every move as she milled about the area with Liara. I would even bet my lucky sniper rifle Tali also had her helmet tuned in to eavesdrop.
"Did you know about them?" Tali asked me, motioning to Shepard and Liara. Liara had just grabbed Shepard's hand.
I smiled guiltily, and Tali smacked my arm. "Hey! I didn't!" I exclaimed. "I mean, I suspected. But for a while I thought she was involved with Ashley instead."
"Everyone always left me out of the gossip," Tali sulked, crossing her arms.
"There was no gossip. Just intuition," I replied.
"Intuition? I know intuition. I have more intuition than you do!" Tali retorted.
I snorted. "Fine. Yes, lots of intuition," I allowed.
There was a movement by my elbow, and Miranda brushed by us looking distracted. She didn't even seem to notice it was me she'd bumped into. My gaze followed after her, concerned.
"I can't believe you like her," Tali huffed behind me.
"She's not as bad as she seems," I answered.
"Well she seems like she works for Cerberus," Tali replied. I hid my grin, amused by her stubbornness but not willing to let her see. All that would do was earn me another smack. Their shared obstinacy was why she and Shepard had clicked so easily...and also why they'd butted heads. "You know they infiltrated one of our ships–"
I held up a talon to stop her. "Yes, Tali. You've told me all of this five times by now. I've counted."
"Well, I'm still angry," Tali retorted. "And Shepard is an idiot for trusting anyone in that organization."
This argument had been going on an endless loop ever since we'd picked Tali up. I wasn't frustrated with her necessarily...but, alright, yes, I was frustrated. Not to mention, there was a weird tension with her and Shepard. The woman had only been alive for two months, and Tali had only been on the ship for two days! What could she have possibly started with Tali in that amount of time?
A pair of tattooed hands slapped down on the kiosk counter and startled me. Jack leaned up against the edge, cocking her head as she examined the pieces and greedily grabbed a few to look closer. She looked up at Tali and me.
"Talking about anything good?" Jack asked, tossing an ammo mod to the side with a sneer. The shop attendant looked ready to have a fit.
"Just how stupid it is to work for Cerberus," Tali answered. "And what an idiot Garrus is for not stealing Shepard away from them sooner."
Jack narrowed her eyes at Tali, silent for the next few seconds.
"You're alright," Jack replied, jamming a pointed finger in Tali's direction and using the momentary distraction to slip a shotgun choke into one of her pockets with the other hand. I sighed. "At least someone around here gets it."
"It would be better if Shepard 'got it,'" Tali said, making quotations with her fingers. "We could do fine on our own. There are multiple organizations we could turn to to back us, or there are other ways of acquiring funding. Plus Shepard is still a Spectre. So we ditch the Cerberus crew and go our own way."
"Fat chance," Jack scoffed, debunking Tali's plan before I had the chance to argue with her for the sixth time. "The cheerleader has her claws sunk in way too deep for that now. And if I have to hear one more lecture from Shepard about working with bad people for the right reasons and teamwork, I'm going to rip out a bulkhead."
Tali stared at Jack for a moment, then her head turned slowly to me. "What does she mean, Miranda has her claws sunk in Shepard?" Tali asked, her voice low.
"They've been bonding. I told you, she isn't so bad," I replied.
"Idiot!" Tali smacked me on the arm. "I knew something was up. What have you even been doing? How could you let this happen?"
"I didn't do anything!" I rubbed the spot on my arm with a pointed frown. "That was the point," I replied, smiling again when Tali crossed her arms with another huff. Jack looked between the two of us, indifferent, and proceeded to pocket yet another gun mod.
"So, hear anything good over there?" I asked, nodding at Shepard and Liara.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Tali denied.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Oh please."
"You're listening?" Jack asked. "I've got to get me one of those."
"I can get one for you if you'd like," Kasumi said, appearing out of the air by our side. I jumped. "And their conversation was really juicy. Now it's boring because they started talking about work."
"Of course you'd be eavesdropping," I groaned to Kasumi. All I could see under her hood was her small smile. I looked over at Shepard and Liara, and they did indeed seem to be having a serious conversation, judging by the grim look that had settled on Shepard's face.
I turned that direction only to see that Grunt, Zaeed, and Jacob were already approaching the taxi stand to wait for our meeting. Mordin wasn't far off, occupied in a conversation between an asari and a krogan that was reciting poetry, of all things. I checked the time on my omni-tool.
"Well, it's about time to meet up. We should round everyone up," I said.
There was a grumble from Jack, but Tali and Kasumi began to walk towards the taxi as well. I began to follow, then stopped, pulling out my credit chit and turning to the shop attendant.
"Here," I thrust it into her hands. By my eye, Jack had stolen at least three gun mods. "For the stuff she took," I added, throwing a thumb over my shoulder.
The store clerk looked dumbfounded but ran the numbers I named off, thanking me multiple times. I waved the words off, not really interested in the glowing accolades she was throwing my way. She'd probably have lost her job over something Jack did, and, besides, Shepard was going to be paying me back for this. She was the one who was responsible for Jack.
I joined the rest just as Shepard did, Liara trailing up behind. The commander's gaze swept across the group, resting on each face, frowning when she found one missing.
"Where's Miranda?" Shepard asked.
I looked around in surprise. I had just seen Miranda, hadn't I? We all looked dumbfounded except for Jack, who just crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. I shifted on my feet, well aware I was one of the few in the group feeling genuine concern at her absence, but of the many things Miranda Lawson was, truant was not among them. The hard line of Shepard's jaw betrayed the same thought.
"Well?" Shepard prompted again.
"I just saw her, not too long ago," I spoke up. "I swear she walked right by me."
"She probably just lost track of time," Shepard said. Helpfully, no one pointed out how unlikely that was. "In the meantime, I've got a task for some of you. Garrus, you'll be taking your team to work with Liara. There's a lead on Thane Krios I want you to explore. Tech stuff I don't really understand." She shrugged. "Grunt, Zaeed, Mordin, and Jack, you'll be with me. We'll make a pit stop to find Miranda and then go on our way to talk to Samara. Garrus, you said you'd found a location?"
"Already sent to your omni-tool, Commander," I confirmed.
Shepard nodded and marched off, the appropriate squadmates following her while the rest stayed standing about me. Liara gave me a small smile.
"Just us then," Liara said.
"Yeah, I trust you can fill me in?" I asked.
She nodded. "We'll go to my office," she said, leading us out of the area and into a hallway that would connect us back to the trading floor where her office was located. "We'll be tracing who hired the assassin you're interested in."
"Shouldn't we be asking who the assassin is going to kill?" Jacob asked.
Liara grimaced then answered, "We know. The target is Nassana Dantius. Shepard has elected not to try and stop the assassination."
"What?" Jacob asked, his jaw staying open.
I gave the soldier a hard look, and he closed his mouth but didn't lose the frown. "It'll be easier just to find their meeting afterwards. That's what Shepard wants, right?" I confirmed.
"Yes," Liara answered.
I looked at her from the corner of my eye, noting that she looked more drawn and pale than I remembered her being. She could just be tired; being an information broker isn't exactly a forgiving line of work. There was a lot of hunting involved, a lot of pouring over computer screens and sitting behind a desk for hours on end. I'd worked closely with a few information brokers in my day, when I could afford them, and they all seemed to have the same sharp smiles and tired eyes.
Still, it was more than that here. Liara looked like she'd lost something—a curious conclusion to make about someone whose job it was to find things, but it was there all the same. I considered asking her about it, but, honestly, Liara and I had never been that close. Really the only thing we'd ever had in common had been Shepard, and now, I wasn't sure we even had that.
"My office is just up the stairs," Liara said, mounting the steps ahead of us.
I looked around the spacious office with appreciation. It had large windows and clean lines, minimally decorated but purposefully so, though I had the sense that Liara had been aiming for utilitarian but failed. Instead, the place had a sense of emptiness. It had me wondering if her apartment looked much the same: classy but devoid of personality. Maybe she'd never planned on staying. What changed?
"This console should have all the programs you'll need. Though perhaps our local tech genius should be the one to run it," Liara said with a smile at Tali. I noticed she checked several things on the computer and ran a hand over the locks on her desk before giving up her seat, however. Liara had certainly gotten used to the intrigues on Illium if she was this paranoid around friends. Tali took her place in the chair and readied her fingers over the keyboard. Kasumi flitted over to watch over her shoulder, and Jacob took a seat to the side, already looking bored.
"Where do I start?" Tali asked. All eyes turned to me.
"Any ideas Kasumi?" I asked. "Liara?"
"People hunting isn't exactly what I'm known for," Kasumi replied.
"We need to get into the communications," Liara began. "But that would be a waste of time without knowing who to target first."
"Thane isn't part of an organization. He's a freelancer, hard to contact. But there must be a way, otherwise he would never get contracts. Maybe he has an intermediary," I mused out loud.
"How would that even work?" Tali asked. "He works on multiple planets. He's not just going to have some bartender on the Citadel passing along contact information."
"Drell have that Compact with the hanar. Maybe he still has a handler," I suggested.
"It's not likely," Liara said, shaking her head. "From what I know of his background, he was released from that. And the types of contracts he takes suggests he hasn't returned. These are individual, personal hits."
"Another direction then. If we could get contact information, I'm sure Cerberus intel would have done it already," I said. "So let's focus on who would want to kill Nassana Dantius."
"You mean besides everyone?" Jacob threw in. I shot him an unamused look.
"Damn it," I growled. "We'll try the hard way then. Get the lists of recent arrivals from the docking agency. The last week at least."
"You think the assassin only arrived in the last week? What if he's been staying longer than that?" Kasumi pointed out.
"That's possible. But he doesn't live here, so he must have come in on a transport at some point. And I wouldn't think an assassin with his reputation would need over a week to make a mark. So we'll look through the passenger manifests, starting with today," I ordered.
Tali started typing furiously on the keyboard, pausing occasionally to tap something on the virtual screen. I watched the movements, the boxes and windows she went back and forth between on the screen, but I didn't pretend to understand what she was doing. Hacking of this nature was far above my skills. Give me gun circuits and bombs any day. Tali began to download files, transferring them to datapads and handing them off. I gave us each a day to look through, leaving the oldest days for later.
Scrolling through the names was tedious. No doubt Thane Krios wasn't going to just jump on a ship with his real name, but most of the passenger lists had species notes next to them as well. My datapad had the list from two days ago, but so far, held nothing about a drell. I kept looking.
"There's a surprising number of slaver ships docked here," Tali mentioned, still working at the computer while the rest of us poured over our datapads. Our team was scattered about the room in various chairs Liara's assistant had managed to produce.
"Slavery is legal on Illium," I reminded her, not looking up from my list.
"Garrus," Tali said seriously from the desk. "One of the ships is registered to a Dahlia Dantius."
I set my list down and stood up. "That's not possible. Shepard killed her."
"Look," Tali said, pointing. "Her name is right there under a freighter named the Black Sheep."
"If she were still alive, she wouldn't be stupid enough to come to Illium under her real name, right? Her sister is the one who paid Shepard to kill her," I argued, going around the desk to see the screen.
"Or it's a warning," Liara added. "Perhaps, Dahlia is playing with her sister. Wants her to know she's coming."
"And maybe she hired our lucky assassin," I realized.
"I found a drell," Jacob added in. "One arrived three days ago on a passenger cruiser. Name listed is Tannor Nuara."
"Alright, there's contact information for the ship, right? Make a call to the captain and see what you can find out," I ordered. I turned to Tali. "Meanwhile, let's tap into Dahlia's communications."
Half an hour later and we had sludged through multiple useless emails, and Jacob had returned from his phone call with nothing. The emails were a frustration in themselves. There were a few that looked suspicious, all to the same person, but their contents made no sense.
"They're in a code," Liara supplied helpfully. Like I didn't know that. "We won't be able to decipher it without the key."
I looked at the emails a last time, then stood up from my chair, slapping my hands against the armrests. I paced the room, ignoring that the other four were watching me. There must be another way to do this, one that did not involve me breaking with Shepard's orders. She said no to going to Nassana. That was fine; that way was dangerous anyway.
"Alright, that's it. Tali, you stay here with Liara and keep looking. Drop the Dahlia angle and look for something else that can help. Jacob and Kasumi, you're coming with me," I said, marching for the door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Tali called after us.
"I'm going to Dahlia's ship. Hopefully she's on it and can answer some questions. Otherwise, we're running out of time," I replied.
"We don't even know if the assassin will try to move today, or tomorrow, or the next day," Tali argued.
"Yeah, but when he does, he'll be gone. We can't take the chance that he slips away tonight."
"We could always go to Nassana and wait for Thane there, save her life," Jacob added, trotting next to me as I stormed through the doorway and down the stairs.
"Nassana is the 'shoot first, ask questions later' type. I promise if she sees me, Tali, or Shepard, she'll get her security involved. She's paranoid and has a long memory," I said. "I'm sure you don't want to slaughter a bunch of guards just to have a conversation?"
"What makes you think her sister will be any different?" Jacob asked.
"Common interest? I don't know. But it's at least less likely that she knows my face. I wasn't with Shepard on the mission where they attacked her. Plus, you'll be going first. She definitely doesn't know you," I added.
"Fine. Just don't get me shot," Jacob groused.
"Wasn't planning on it," I said with a grin.
We arrived at the Black Sheep, and I pushed Jacob ahead as we marched up to the guards. I kept my back straight, expression grim. Looking dangerous was the best way to deal with these types, I'd learned from Omega. The two guards, an asari and a human, at the external airlock door readied their guns immediately.
"We want to talk to Dahlia Dantius," Jacob said. His voice was firm, didn't waver. Good. The asari muttered something into her omni-tool, paused, then said something again.
The asari smirked, stepping to the side. "Go ahead," she offered. "Guns stay here."
I held out my hands, palms up, and did a turn. "We didn't bring any," I replied.
Kasumi stood to the side, cloaked, loaded down with two assault rifles and a pistol we'd detoured to the Normandy to grab. A risky attempt, but I looked at the state of the freighter, and some of the tensions loosed in my stomach. It was unlikely they'd have the tech to detect Kasumi or our stash of weapons.
The asari opened the door, but it was the human that led us on board, directing us to a flight of stairs that would take us a deck up. He climbed the narrow steps with ease, pushing at a pace that was harder for my longer legs to get used to. The steps were much shorter than they should be, and the muscles in my legs were uncomfortable after the first ten.
We were led through another hallway—I was sure to memorize the way—but we had yet to run into many crew. Maybe we would be in luck and most of them were off the ship if things got ugly. Another turn had us at the doorway, and the human guard motioned at it with his gun, never saying a word before marching off. I hit the door control.
An asari sat behind a desk, her skin a light violet hue that glinted in the florescent lights. She looked up and stopped typing, her eyes narrowing as we filed into the door. Three guards stood along the walls.
"My guards said I had guests. You aren't who I was expecting," the asari said.
"Who were you expecting?" Jacob asked, taking the lead as I'd asked.
"Commander Shepard, for one. I heard she docked here recently. On a Cerberus ship." Her eyes lingered on Jacob's uniform. "And with her faithful turian bodyguard." Her eyes landed on me.
"So you know who we are," I said, stepping forward. "Why'd you let us in?"
"Call it curiosity," she answered. "What do you want?"
"Are you Dahlia?" I asked.
She smiled, but shook her head. "I used the name to toy with my dear sister. I'm the other Dantius, Varia. My late sister left her belongings to me, including the ship." Varia scanned the room. "It could still use some fixing up. Dahlia didn't have much of a head for money, despite running her own trade."
"So I'm guessing you and Nassana aren't close," I fished.
"What would make you think that?" Varia asked. Her smile turned sharp.
"We're not here to get in your way. I just need to meet Thane Krios," I assured her.
She leaned back in her chair, folding her hands in front of her. She dismissed the guards in the room with a sweep of her eyes, then motioned to the chairs in front of her desk. Her smile was frightening.
"Please, sit. Your cloaked friend can sit on one of the armrests, if you'd like," Varia offered.
"There's no way you could see me," Kasumi said, appearing and walking up behind us.
"There's a tell-tale shimmering that tactical cloaks make, if you know to look for it," Varia waved her off.
"Then why dismiss your guards?" I asked.
"This isn't for them to hear," Varia said. "Besides, I sense we have some things to talk about." She drummed her fingers against her desk. "You're no friends of my sister. That's for sure. But you killed for her. Why?"
"Shepard was tricked. She didn't know she was killing Nassana's—your—sister. Just that she was taking down a slaver," I explained.
"Yes, the commander holds no fondness for slavery. I've heard. Is hiring an assassin much better?" Varia asked.
"So you do know where Thane Krios is?" I pushed.
"Not exactly," Varia deflected. She looked down at her omni-tool. "But I do know where he'll be in say, the next three hours or so." She pulled two bottles from a drawer in her desk. "Willing to wait?"
I looked at my two teammates cautiously, ignoring Varia's cat-like grin. I sighed, typing out a message to Tali, before accepting the purple drink the asari had poured for me. Two blue colored ones went to Kasumi and Jacob.
"You better not be wasting my time," I warned her.
"He'll be here," Varia soothed. "I'm his ride off-planet."
XXX
Miranda
My foul mood followed me all the way through my meeting with my contact at Eternity and lasted long after I'd left the bar behind. It wasn't because I'd turned to see Liara kissing Shepard. And it wasn't because Shepard had looked up and caught me staring when I should have been walking away. Definitely not.
No, the exact cause of my black mood came after speaking with my contact. There had been a security breach, multiple security breaches. But none of the information accessed had been about Oriana. Which was curious in itself, given the day. Her travel plans should still be safe. What the hacker had been looking for had seemingly been my location, though whether they got it or not was uncertain.
What was certain was that nothing this evening would be left to chance. Everything would be treated as if Oriana's safety had been compromised, which it very well could be. If my father was behind this, which I suspected, then no doubt he hired some brutes to kidnap her. So I would go to the docks and escort her on that transport personally, if I had to. But that meant I would need Shepard. More importantly, I would need guns.
I turned down a hallway before making for the taxi stand Shepard had designated for the team meetup. I pushed past anyone standing in my way; time was of the essence. I would still need to get back to the ship for my armor and equipment—we'd elected to travel light today to draw less attention—and the team would too. I looked down at my omni-tool. Five hours until Oriana's transfer, yet no guarantee she wouldn't be snatched in the meantime.
I arrived at the taxi stand but all that stared back at me were empty car windows. I peered closely at the cabs near me, but this cab stop was eerily empty, no passengers looking to board or taxis waiting to land. I saw nothing and no squad members either. The last part wasn't unusual, at least; I was early. I saw Shepard and Liara talking a short distance away, so I started in that direction just as a cab door opened next to me.
A hand clasped over my mouth, and there was a sting in the skin of my neck before I had even registered the motion. The same hand shoved a gag in my mouth as my knees dropped underneath me, but strong arms were underneath me, draping my arms along their shoulders. I was losing feeling in my body, and panic bubbled up as my assailant put a syringe away. A paralytic.
Shepard was still just across the room. I tried to shout, but I wasn't loud enough with the ball of cloth choking me. I tried to spit it out, but the hand was back, shoving my mouth closed so hard my teeth crashed against each other. Panic had full control of my breathing now, short stabs of breath wracking my lungs as I tried not to inhale the gag. I rolled my head back over to see Shepard, willing with everything that she would just look over. If she turned even slightly, she would see. But, no, my hopes dropped as my body went fully limp with the paralytic, and Shepard never turned. Her eyes remained on Liara, and I was dragged backwards.
I was swept up and thrown into the open door of the cab, the back of my head bouncing against the center console. The door slammed shut quickly behind me. I tried to see out of the window, to determine if anyone had seen, but there was nothing but the sky from that angle. I estimated the encounter lasted less than a minute. No one saw, or else they were too slow. My assailant, whose dark attire and hood didn't clue me into an identity, was already punching in a code to the taxi, and that last shred of hope withered as we flew away.
The driver took their hands off the steering wheel once the autopilot caught, turning to face me. She pushed down her hood, revealing a human woman with unremarkable features, easy to forget. I vowed I wouldn't. She began to rummage in a satchel as I stared at her, trying to look as angry as possible.
I can't believe I let myself get kidnapped. The thought was so preposterous I wanted to laugh, but, no, that wasn't funny. Or it wasn't until I took stock of the whole situation: the throbbing at the back of my head, how I was slumped clumsily over the seat, limbs everywhere, the drool that was already running down my chin because I couldn't swallow it with the gag in the way. Yes, that was hilarious. I had been so focused on Oriana that I'd let my own guard down, missed the huge hint that someone had hacked through my security only to find my location.
I forced myself to calm down. I couldn't move, but I was awake. I would watch where we went and find my way back. I tilted my chin down to see that my omni-tool was still on my lifeless arm. At least I would be able to message someone the minute I had a chance.
My kidnapper reached in a satchel and pulled out another syringe. My eyes widened.
Her other hand went to the back of my neck, feeling around the edges of my biotic amp port. A sick feeling grew in my stomach; I wanted to fight back. I wanted to slam her against the wall, splatter her head across the windshield. Maybe the woman saw the thoughts in my eyes because, certainly, my arms never moved. She dug her fingernails under the edges of my amp and then ripped it sharply out at the same time as jamming a needle in my arm.
White hot pain ran from the base of my neck to the tail of my spine, spreading like needles through my arms and legs too as I screamed, still muffled against the gag. The woman pushed me away from her, fully into the passenger seat, and whatever drug she had given me set in, giving a blurry cast to my thoughts. It was hard to focus. Where am I going?
"I have her," the driver said eventually, speaking into her omni-tool.
In any state, I would recognize the voice that came next.
"Let me see."
Alright, I'm a really mean person for leaving you with a cliffhanger. However, I did hold this chapter (It was done last week.) so chapter 19 wouldn't be so far away. Seriously, though, hit me with all of your thoughts! I know some people don't like when I modify the missions, but this is slightly AU. I also usually have really good reasons for when I change them. Like with Thane's mission, all I could think was "why in the world am I shooting up this building just to talk to him?" So do you all like the change, or no?
What about the deal with Liara and Shepard? I'd love to hear all of the opinions on that, and, of course, how you all feel about Miranda being taken. Unexpected? Is it really obvious who's behind it?