Liara

"Is it freezing out here, or am I alone in my discomfort?" I asked, huddling into myself, attempting to keep out the chill, biting wind making me shiver.

Feron did nothing but smile. "It's a little cool, yes." he answered. "But you're likely feeling the effects of the drugs you took and the rush from…"

"Almost exploding, yes." I frowned. "I do recall."

The Shadow Broker had posted sentries around Alignon, ships guided by VI intelligence that were set to attack anyone who entered the planet's atmosphere. Feron's solution to their attack had been to fly into the heart of a mined-out asteroid composed of highly combustible materials. I still did not know how his ship had survived the explosion, but it had, and the Broker's sentries had no longer been a problem.

The temperature, however, was. My teeth were chattering and I forced myself to follow the drell, in the weak hopes of generating enough body heat to shop the shivering.

I opened my omni-tool, intent on searching for information about the planet Alignon, but the screen was simply blank. I stared at it for a moment before looking at Feron.

"I believe something planetary is interfering with my signal." I told him. "Your Shadow Broker certainly did not choose the proper place for a base of operations."

Feron merely grinned as we climbed over the desolate, rocky landscape, heading to a destination only he knew. I did not like that fact, but was forced to follow him nonetheless.

"That's where you're wrong." he replied, crouching behind a rock and looking for…something. More sentries, perhaps? Armed guards? Mercenaries? The list could be unending. "The Broker has a system that can cut straight through the atmospheric interference. But, for obvious reasons, it's not technology he's willing to share. He makes his agents come to Alignon in person to receive their orders."

"I do not think that I could live a life filled with such rampant paranoia and secrecy." I muttered as I my foot slipped from under me and I slid down a small decline, a shower of dust and pebbles following me as I landed, unpleasantly, on my ass.

Feron offered me a hand and I accepted his help as he pulled me to my feet.

"It's just another layer of protection." he muttered. "And though it seems like overkill, the Broker has his reasons. You don't rule the galaxy's black market and information trade from out in the open. That's a quick way to die. Still, the security has its distinct lack of perks. The sentries that attacked us, for instance. We weren't on the list of arrivals they had when they took off and that's why we were targeted."

"That's ludicrous." I muttered, clinging to an almost smooth rock face and making my way down. "He has so many layers of security that his people are tripping over themselves. It's an over-encumbered organization, almost worse than a government bureaucracy. How does he get anything done with any manner of efficiency?"

"Beats me." Feron shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that he's willing to shoot anything that brings up a red tape issue, instead of having to slog through it."

"Be that as it may…"

"Look, it might be beneficial to us in this case." Feron lowered his voice as we approached a structure, couched in the middle of nowhere on a planet that naturally disrupted communications frequencies.

"How so?" I asked, following his lead and crouching lower against the ground and behind the rocks.

"If everyone else is as uninformed as we are, and we have to believe that they are, then we can make up a much more feasible lie, instead of trying to decipher what information they actually have."

"I can only hope you're right." I replied, eyeing the two turian sentries who guarded the door to the base.

"I'm bored, I'm angry, and I don't want to be here." one of them snarled. "There's no outside to this place. Just...rocks."

"Quit your bitching." the other one snapped. "The money's good, isn't it?"

"Credits aren't anything if I can never get a damn moment to spend them…somewhere that isn't this place."

"Oh good." Feron smiled. "I love these two. Good with their guns, but that's about it. They might have a half a brain cell between them."

"Your estimations of situations have not aided us before." I muttered.

"True enough." he relented. "And, also, I apologize."

"Whatever fo…"

My words were cut off as Feron wrapped his arm around me in a stranglehold and pressed the metal of his pistol directly into my cheek. I flinched as the metal grazed the healing wound, risking tearing it open once more.

He dragged me out from behind the rock and towards the door, and though I wanted to flare into a biotic rage and throw him against the building, I did not do so, certain that he at least had a plan, and hoping that it wouldn't fall apart.

"Good morning, gentlemen!" he fairly beamed. "I've got a delivery—someone the Broker has wanted to see for a…very long time."

"Hey, Feron." one of the turians greeted him, pulling up his omni-tool. His mandibles fluttered as he scrolled down the screen. "You're not on the list for today." his eyes narrowed.

"I'm not on your list." Feron stressed. "But since when does the Broker tell you everything? This delivery is…special." he winked. "If you get my meaning."

"Figures." the unhappy turian grumbled. "He's getting laid and we're not. And we are supposed to know everyone who's coming. It's on the list."

"The fucking list." Feron exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. "Are you the Broker, Delwian?"

"No." the turian, Delwian, frowned.

Feron played off of that and turned to the other. "And you, Joppa?" he needled. "Are you the Broker?"

Joppa laughed. "Fuck no, and glad of it. What business are you running now, Feron?"

Feron grinned and placed a finger to his lips. "That's a secret." he whispered, like a true showman. Then he ran his hand down my side, across my hip, and between my legs, leaving it there while in my mind I ripped him apart limb from limb. "But it involves delicious asari escorts." he said. "Maybe I can find one for you on my next run."

Joppa grinned, all sharp teeth and lust. "Make sure you do." he all but drooled.

Feron squeezed between my thighs and my eyes flared, but I forced myself to remain still. "You've got it, my friend." he quipped, and just like that, we were through the doors.

After they closed, I glanced around. I could hear others in the building, but we were not visible to any of them at the moment. I wrenched out of his grip and promptly slapped him across the face.

His hand flew to his cheek as he staggered backwards. "What the fuck was that?" he hissed.

"A human gesture of appreciation for a job well done." I smiled. "I believe they call it a 'high-five'."