Shepard, Jenny and Grunt followed Andrea to her car, during the time period between travelling from the Lower Sections of Afterlife to Andrea's car Andrea had forwarded to document on the mission to their Onmi-Tools which told Shepard and co more info about the mission; the gang was called the Sangue Demoni and they had apparently been around for quite a while, dating back to before the First Contact War.
Andrea stopped by a black hovercar and unlocked it, the four of them put their weapons in the boot for safe keeping and Jenny and Grunt entered the back and Shepard got in the passenger side door, Shepard closed the door as Andrea entered the car and started the car, as she started driving she turned to Shepard. "So, you going to tell me why you want to recruit me or am I supposed to learn as I go along?" Andrea asks.
"What do you know of the Reapers?" Shepard asked her and Andrea shrugged.
"I'm familiar with the myth, why do you ask?" Andrea asks and Shepard sighs partly in annoyance.
"It's not a myth, the Reapers have invaded Earth." Shepard said, at that point Andrea stopped the car and turned to Shepard.
"You honestly expect me to believe that?" Andrea asks, Shepard turned on the radio and turned to her.
"You know any news stations that report on stuff from Earth?" Shepard asks, Andrea nods and tunes in to the appropriate station, Shepard knew that the news stations had been reporting on the story nonstop and this time was no different, needless to say all colour drained from Andrea's face when she realized it was true. "You have family on Earth?"
"Aye, and that's all I'm saying on the matter." Andrea said as she started the car again, Shepard turned off the radio allowing Andrea to concentrate on driving. "So Jenny, what's Zach up to these days?" Andrea asked adjusting the rear view mirror so that she could see Jenny.
"I don't want to talk about it." Jenny said bluntly folding her arms, Andrea blinks before readjusting the rear-view mirror and turning to Shepard.
"Not very talkative is she?" Andrea shrugs as she continues driving.
"The most I've been able to learn about her brother is his past relationship with you." Shepard answered and Andrea nodded.
"Ah yeah, that old thing." Andrea muttered under her breath. "Like I said before, it's ancient history." Andrea added before stopping the car again. "We're here." Andrea said getting out of the car and going to the boot to retrieve her weapons, Shepard, Grunt and Jenny followed her out and retrieved their weapons, when they looked up they realized that they had stopped in frount of an old warehouse, clearly abandoned.
"What kind of opposition are we facing?" Shepard asked Andrea, she consulted her onmi-tool to double check the info, Shepard could tell from the look on her face that they were in for some heavy opposition.
"Well the good news is that they don't have the manpower of either the Blue Suns, Eclipse or Blood Pack." Andrea said leaning against a nearby wall. "Bad news is they have around 50 or so members." Andrea said turning off her onmi-tool, Grunt pumped his fists together, clearly in anticipation for the upcoming fight.
"Sounds like a good fight to me." Grunt said enthusiastically, Andrea glanced at the young Krogan curiously before shaking her head.
"If I was any younger I'd worry about his mental stability." Andrea muttered under her breath glancing at Grunt as she did. "Luckily I've worked with enough Krogans to get used to that." She added before checking her weapons to see whether or not there was enough thermal clips in them, satisfied she turned to Shepard. "Ready when you are."
"Let's move." Shepard said drawing his mattock, Grunt and Jenny drew their weapons and Shepard turned to Andrea. "You know where the front entrance is?" Andrea nodded and motioned for them to follow her, Jenny kept her distance from Andrea whilst Grunt stayed close to Shepard who followed Andrea closely. "When we complete the mission can you help us find Drakus?" Shepard asked.
"I'll get in contact with the guy who gets the jobs for me and several other freelancers and see if he's had any contact with Drakus, first things first though." Andrea said as they reached the front entrance, it was guarded by two heavily armed Krogan.
"You going to try using your "feminine charms" on them like you do with most men Andrea?" Jenny asks mockingly.
"Kid, stick to your day job stand up comedy's not your thing." Andrea answered back though Shepard did catch her rolling her eyes at Jenny's comment.
"And one more comment like that Jenny and I'll send you back to the ship." Shepard warned, Jenny gulped and quickly nodded, satisfied Shepard turned to Andrea. "Any ideas?" Shepard asked, Andrea turned to him and shook her head.
"None so far but I'm open to suggestions." Andrea replied, she thought for a moment before turning to Jenny. "You're a biotic right?"
"I was the last time I checked, why?" Jenny asked, Andrea grinned and motioned her to the front of the group, Jenny did so and once she was standing side by side with Andrea the older woman fired up her biotics, Jenny quickly caught on to the idea and fired up her own biotics.
"On three we launch two shockwaves at them." Andrea said before turning to Shepard and Grunt. "You guys ready to give them hell afterwards?" Andrea asks and Shepard grins.
"Just say the word." Shepard nods as Grunt pumps his fists enthusiastically; Andrea nods before turning to Jenny.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jenny asks uncertainly.
"Depends, how many times have you used biotics on Krogan before now?" Andrea asks and Jenny gulps nervously.
"This is the first time." Jenny responds, Andrea groans barely resisting the urge to facepalm but shakes her head.
"Don't they teach you that stuff in the Alliance? Never mind, just follow my lead." Andrea cut of Jenny's response as she started preparing the shockwave as did Jenny. "One...two..." At that point the Krogan had heard the two women bantering and where starting to make their way over to them. "THREE!" Andrea said as the two women fired their shockwaves, the Krogan tried to dive out of the way but where to slow, better yet the shockwaves had knocked out their shields.
Grunt activated his fortification power and charged at the Krogan shouting "I AM KROGAN!" as he did, Shepard charged after him and Andrea drew her assault rifle.
"Jenny, you and I are going to give them covering fire in case any of their friends inside charge out." Andrea told Jenny who didn't need to be told twice as the sound of gunfire had indeed attracted the attention of more guards who where quickly met with Assault Rifle fire from the two women, Grunt and Shepard looked up briefly when they heard the gunfire but upon realizing that they were keeping reinforcements pinned down they kept firing on the Krogan until the Krogan where dead, one quick reload later and they were joined by Jenny and Andrea as they grabbed cover behind some large crates as the rest of the Sangue Demoni members opened fire upon them.
"Andrea, be honest with me, did you plan past taking out the Krogan guards?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.
"I'm working on it." Andrea said glancing towards the doorway. "Okay, doesn't look like they sent much in the way of backup, they must've thought that those guys plus the Krogan would be able to handle us." Andrea commented. "Looks like there's five guys at the door in total, the rest must be inside."
"Any other helpful tips?" Grunt asks, Andrea shook her head and then noticed the Arc Projector on Shepard's back.
"That thing have a decent amount of ammo?" Andrea asks pointing to the projector; Shepard quickly caught on and swapped the assault rifle out for the Arc Projector.
"It has plenty of ammo." Shepard answered as he pointed it at the guards and started charging up the Projector, the guards tried firing at him but Jenny, Andrea and Grunt provided covering fire for Shepard as he charged it up, he finally let loose with the projector stunning the guards by the door and allowing Jenny, Andrea and Grunt to finish them off. "Let's move." Shepard commanded swapping out the projector for his Assault Rifle and leading them into the warehouse, the first area they entered was a large empty space save for themselves and several crates. "Isn't that the Blue Suns logo?" Shepard asked spotting the logo on one of the crates.
"Aye, according to my contact this was used by the Blue Suns as a HQ for a weapon smuggling ring before it was shut down by Archangel, looks like the Demoni decided to pick up where they left off." Andrea nodded before getting an idea. "Grunt, you think you can get one of these crates open?" Andrea asked the Krogan who nodded.
"I like the way you think." Grunt said approaching one of the crates and opening it, inside it was several thermal clips and power cells which the squad used to reload their weapons, it was then that Jenny spotted something at the bottom of the crate.
"What's that?" Jenny asked pointing to the object, Grunt picked it up and it looked like a modified ML77 Missile Launcher with the word "destroyer" across the side of the weapon, Shepard inspected the weapon more closely and raised an eyebrow.
"This looks like a weapon developed by the Alliance, or at least by a company that develops weapons for the Alliance." Shepard said as he inspected it. "How did the Blue Suns get their hands on it?" Andrea came in for a closer look and recognised a logo.
"There's your answer, it was developed by Marcello Industries, and it's a company that does two things, develops weapons for the Alliance and hire freelancers to deal with the competition, I wasn't aware that they did business with the Blue Suns but that shows what I know, either that or they simply smuggled this weapon alongside the others, anyway Marcello Industries gave the freelancers they hired access to their weapons for use on the mission." Andrea said folding her arms. "I should know, I've done business with them god knows how many times."
"I'll bring this up with Anderson once we're on the Normandy." Shepard said handing the weapon to Andrea. "You know how to use it?"
"Aye, it's one of their older models." Andrea nodded taking it. "Word of advice, when I say I'm about to fire this thing get behind me as soon as you can." Andrea added holstering the gun, she took another look around and realized that the rest of the crates where too high up for anyone to reach them. "Shall we continue?"
"Let's move." Shepard nodded as they started making their way to the next room...only to be greeted by a room full of mercs who had heard the gunfire outside. "TAKE COVER!" Shepard shouted as a room full of mercs opened fire on them, Shepard almost immediately turned to Andrea. "Now would be an excellent time to use that weapon." Andrea nodded in agreement and swapped out her Mattock for the Destroyer, she pointed it at the ceiling above the mercs and fired. "Are you trying to bring the roof down on us?"
"Just watch." Andrea reassured Shepard who turned to the missile just in time to see it break up and rain down with smaller missiles onto the crowd of mercs doing a number on their shields, Andrea swapped out the Destroyer for her Assault Rifle and the four of them opened fire on the crowd killing most of them only stopping to reload their guns, by the time that the team had reloaded their guns the rest of the mercs had recovered from the attack and had started firing again.
"Can you fire the Destroyer again?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, the weapon only has the ability to fire once, after that it's useless until we find more Power Cells." Andrea said and Shepard sighed in annoyance.
"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Grunt asked.
"I was planning to but I got sidetracked by our friends over there." Andrea responded as she fired upon the mercs managing to take out a couple of mercs, she fired a warp at the mercs before ducking back behind cover as the rest of the mercs opened fire, Grunt, Jenny and Shepard joined in finishing off the rest of the mercs, they came out of cover and Andrea knelt down in front of one of the mercs and grabbed a keycard that was dangling from a necklace around the merc's neck. "According to the blueprints from my contact we'll need this keycard to get in the next room."
"What's in the next room?" Jenny asked glancing towards a door with a keycard slot on by the door, Andrea walked towards it as swiped the card.
"The Oracle's office, that's what." Andrea answered as the door opened, the others gave her an odd look and she sighed. "The Oracle is the leader of the group, he fancies himself as some kind of cult leader." She answered and Shepard raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't look at me, I'm just relaying the info from my contact."
"Let's just move on." Grunt grumbled before going through the door, Andrea followed him followed by Jenny and Shepard, the office was fairly large and had a plain wood desk in the centre, there was no one else on the room however except for a massive scarred Krogan searching the desk, Shepard, Andrea, Jenny and Grunt drew their guns and the Krogan looked up.
"Are you the one they call The Oracle?" Shepard asked and the Krogan shook his head.
"Don't insult me human, that coward abandoned this base weeks ago, left it in charge of some Salarian, his corpse is over there." The Krogan said with a hint of contempt in his voice as he motioned to a dead Salarian that Shepard hadn't noticed until now, it was then that he noticed Andrea. "Andrea? What the hell are you doing here?" The Krogan asked surprised.
"Drakus?" She asked once she realized who it was a mixture of surprise and relief in her voice. "I was about to ask you the same thing."
"I've been working undercover in this organisation for a good few weeks now." Drakus said walking in front of the desk. "I got this job shortly after we took out that Salarian drug smuggler who thought it was a good idea to take on a Krogan Battlemaster." Drakus chuckled before glancing around at Andrea's companions. "Now then, why don't you three introduce yourselves?"
"Drakus, I'm Commander Shepard, a Spectre, this is Urdnot Grunt, Private Jenny McKansa and you already know Andrea." Shepard introduced himself and his companions. "I'm recruiting you for a mission of Galactic Importance." Shepard added.
"Must be for the council to send a Spectre this far outside Citadel Space." Drakus chuckled. "What do you need me for."
"What do you know of the Reapers?" Shepard asked and Drakus scoffed.
"Is this a trick question?" Drakus asks folding his arms. "I don't pay much attention to Galactic Politics but last I checked the Council had denied the existence of the Reapers." Drakus added.
"They can't deny their existence anymore, the Reapers attacked Earth a few hours ago and we need the best team the galaxy has to offer." Shepard said and the old Krogan did a double take.
"Next thing you tell me is that the Krogan have been granted an embassy on the Citadel." Drakus replied with a hint of concern in his voice. "Andrea, do you really believe him? I thought you where smarter than that."
"I wish he was making it up Drakus." Andrea said activating her onmi-tool and tuning it to a news radio station, once she found it she let the news report on the attack ring out, Drakus said nothing for the next few minutes but by looking at his facial expression Shepard could tell that he was realising the truth.
"This...development disturbs me." Drakus eventually said pacing around the room. "The Reapers exist and yet the council get their heads out of their asses long enough to warn people, this is why I moved to the Terminus Systems." Drakus said anger clear in his voice. "Shepard, name your price, I intend to see this through to the end."
"The Council will pay both your wages and then some; they are willing to pardon the both of you for any crimes you committed in Citadel Space in exchange for your help." Shepard said glancing towards Andrea as he said the last part/
"As if I needed another reason to join your crew commander." Andrea said with a nod, Drakus agreed and went back to searching through the desk. "What where you looking for anyway?"
"Information, that's all I can say for the moment." Drakus said grabbing some documents from the desk.
"There's one thing I don't get, why hire a Krogan to do undercover work?" Jenny chimed in,
"Why not? Who would suspect a Krogan of being an undercover agent? My species is known more for their strength than their intelligence so in a way it makes me the ideal undercover operative, unless we're talking about missions on, say for example, the Asari Homeworld." Drakus replied. "I'm done here and I'm ready to leave when you are commander." Drakus said.
"Let's move." Shepard ordered as the group left the office and the warehouse.