Chapter 14 - To Steal a Memory
The master thief they are supposed to recruit on the Citadel turns out to be a small, spunky Japanese girl by the name of Kasumi Goto. But there is a catch that Cerberus have kindly forgotten to mention, before she is to join them, they must help her recover the stolen belongings of her recently killed partner, Keiji Okuda. The man in possession of Keiji's greybox, a neural implant holding some of his most private memories, is Donovan Hock, a wealthy tycoon who calls a nearby planet of Bekenstein his home.
Kasumi explains that this is one mission that Shepard won't be able to simply handle by going in guns blazing. No, for this occasion, some covert work will be necessary. A false identity of Alison Gunn, leader of a small mercenary force somewhere out in the Terminus Systems is established, and an invitation to a cocktail party thrown by Mr. Hock is secured. All that is left, is to secure some presentable evening wear for Morgan and make sure that she looks comfortable and convincing in her role.
Shepard grudgingly admits that Miranda likely possesses the most fashion sense on Normandy, and ends up enlisting her aid in selecting the appropriate clothing. A simple, yet elegant black sleeveless dress is chosen, with moderately distracting cleavage and covering her legs far enough to be able to conceal a pistol strapped to a thigh. Of course, she will not attempt to get something like that past Hock's security, it would be too risky, but she counts on Kasumi having a plan to somehow smuggle their weapons inside. As Miranda is selecting a matching pearl jewelry for the dress, Shepard is practicing pacing around in high heels, and having reasonable if limited success at managing to appear somewhat graceful.
"I think this will work," she tells Miranda, satisfied. "You know, I was browsing those advertisement stands before, and the only thing they recommended me was an asari burial robe, on the account of me being dead."
Miranda laughs at that, a strange sound to hear from her lips. "You're looking very fetching, Commander. I think you won't look too much out of place in a fancy party."
"Let's hope so," Shepard says, stretching left and right. "The best thing about this dress is, it's not all that restrictive. I bet I could quickly lay out some security guard without raising an alarm."
"I don't think you want things to come to that," Miranda shakes her head, while Shepard already suspects that no matter what she wants, this mission will probably end up involving guns and a lot of shooting.
During their trip to Bekenstein, the others are staying behind on the Citadel. Garrus is busy catching up with some of his old C-Sec colleagues, the very few that he actually respects. When the turian returns to the Normandy carrying a pink heart-shaped box of chocolates, a gift from Dr. Michel, he becomes completely embarrassed when Jacob explains him the intentions behind such a gift.
Meanwhile, Jacob is busy installing new bodybuilding rig in the armory and Mordin is hurrying around the lab with the frantic determination of a feral space hamster who has caught the scent of blood, or in Mordin's case, scent for a scientific breakthrough. Miranda sneaks out late in the evening to go on a blind date, hoping nobody would notice, but then ends up shocked and disappointed as her escort is revealed to be an amorous hanar, posing as a wealthy human businessman on the extranet. Zaeed spends his time in the Dark Star lounge, stuffing up credit chits in the asari dancer's cleavages, while Jack is slumming on the Lower Wards, doing her best to incite street fights and starting a riot.
"Looking good, Ms. Alison Gunn," Kasumi says, looking her over appreciatively while on their way to Bekenstein. "Hock won't be able to keep his eyes off you."
"Do we actually want that?" Shepard asks.
"Why not?" Kasumi shrugs. "It means my hands will be free."
"It's just not fair that you don't have to wear a fancy outfit like this," Shepard complains, seeing that Kasumi is still wearing her light infiltration and combat suit.
"I'll manage not to be crushed by the disappointment," Kasumi chuckles. "And I'm sure we will meet with more success if I stay behind and operate guiding you from the shadows."
"What about my weapons and armor?" Shepard asks.
"You can safely carry a pistol, they won't freak out over a side-arm," Kasumi replies, then giving a low whistle as Shepard unceremoniously pulls up her dress and straps a small pistol to her thigh. "That should do it," Kasumi says, then pointing at a large sculpture of Saren Arterius in the back of the shuttle. "Your present to our charming host. Also, all your gear is stashed within the base of that statue."
"Not bad," Shepard nods approvingly. After they have arrived and gotten off the shuttle, the plans for once appear to proceed very smoothly. Quickly they work on disabling the barriers to Hock's vault, where Kasumi believes the greybox is stored.
As Kasumi is working on fooling the voice print lock with the recorded samples of Hock's voice, Shepard quickly strips out of her dress and puts on her armor, a garb in which she feels far more comfortable. "Took a few extra shots of you with my omni-tool while you were mingling with the crowds," Kasumi says, as the last barrier before the vault gives way. "Figured the galaxy might not have another opportunity of seeing you wear a dress like that. Mmm, those legs. I think we should make some morale-boosting posters for the Normandy's male part of the crew, what do you think?"
Shepard merely pokes Kasumi in the back with the barrel of her sniper rifle. "I think you should not risk annoying the woman with all the guns," she says, aware that her words lack any harshness.
The vault itself is crammed with all sorts of haphazardly placed pieces of art from different cultures, mostly asari, turian, human. Shepard recognizes Michelangelo's David and the head of the Statue of Liberty amongst the trophies, but the art of other cultures leaves her cold. Most importantly, the greybox is here and Kasumi quickly grabs it, when the inevitable occurs.
What happens next is already like a standard operating procedure for Commander Shepard. The cackling villain, in this case Donovan Hock, springs the trap, informing them of their hopeless situation and then sending in his forces to finish them off. Of course, his security chief Roe inevitably fails, and Shepard and Kasumi proceed on a daring, explosive filled escape from Hock's estate, the incompetence of his forces and their inability to stop them slowly driving the usually calculating and smart villain completely mad from helpless anger, until driven by rage he foolishly decides to jump into his own armored gunship and take them out himself.
"And that's how it usually ends for them," Shepard finishes her short course on villain psychology by kicking aside a large piece of the wing from Hock's recently destroyed gunship.
"I'll take your word on that, Shep," Kasumi laughs. "That was fun, though. We should absolutely do this again!"
"As long as I don't end up wearing another revealing dress," Shepard grumbles, as they hastily flee the scene before curious law enforcement representatives become alerted to all the explosions and fires quickly consuming Hock's estate.
On the way back to Normandy, Kasumi has difficulties deciding what to do with the recovered greybox. It contains some of the most private memories of her lover, but this information is encrypted together with sensitive intel, that according to Keiji's words, could get the Systems Alliance thrown out of the Council and possibly off the Citadel, intel which now would make Kasumi herself a target. Shepard is tempted to encourage her to destroy the greybox, just to protect the Alliance's interests and Kasumi's own life, but in the end, she can't bear to tell someone to destroy memories of their loved one. Kasumi decides to keep the greybox.
Back on Normandy, Lawson is very insistent to leave the Citadel, probably just to escape attentions of her amorous hanar admirer, even if she states going after warlord Okeer as the main reason. Their course is finally plotted for the Eagle Nebula, although Shepard isn't too keen to follow through on this particular dossier. A brutal krogan warlord, obsessed with finding the genophage cure for his own people and having a history of dealings with the Collectors to that end, likely trading slaves in exchange for the Collector tech.
"Does that sound like someone you would want on your team?" Shepard asks Garrus while visiting him at the main battery, watching as the turian busies himself with something he refers to as 'calibrations'. "Besides, he wants to cure genophage. Mordin would not be happy to hear that."
"Yeah, I can see happiness, joy and good times in our future with this Okeer onboard," Garrus lets out a dry chuckle.
"Damn, now I'm really starting to miss Wrex," Shepard sighs. "Wish we could go to Tuchanka and abduct him. He'd be worth a thousand of these Okeers."
"The old crew was... different, wasn't it?" Garrus says thoughtfully. "Though, we must have still felt like untrustworthy aliens to you, at least at first."
"Not really," Shepard shakes her head. "You all had pretty clear motives for wanting Saren dead. Trust was easy to develop back then. But these people... they're just in it for the credits, well at least some of them are. And I haven't made up my mind yet on the others. I know I can trust you, and I'm growing fond of Mordin. He's a clever little monkey and knows what's at stake here. When the crunch time comes, he won't let us down."
"What about the rest of them?" Garrus asks. "What about the Cerberus people?"
"I have to admit... Jacob's not all bad, and I'm starting to see some human elements in Miranda as well," Shepard confesses. "I mean, I won't trust them with any of my secrets, but I think they won't buckle when the going gets tough. As for the others... Kasumi is a sweet girl, but she's just in it for the credits, really. Though, I suppose now that she feels the gratitude for helping her with Hock, she might be committed enough."
"Then we have Zaeed," Garrus continues. "Did they tell you that we are supposed to help him deal with some kind of mercenary gang rival or else he's sitting out the fight with the Collectors?"
Shepard groans. "Of course, that was the part of the Cerberus deal, wasn't it?" Garrus nods helpfully. "That's just effing brilliant. Wonder if it would be less of a bother to just space him from that garbage compactor near his quarters?"
Garrus laughs wholeheartedly. "And then there is, of course, the ever trustworthy Jack. You know, I had to pull a few favors with the C-Sec guys to get her released, they had her locked up for picking a fight with two large krogan. Some disagreement about the fish in Presidium..."
"...fish in Presidium?" Shepard blinks.
"Trust me Shepard, it's better not to ask," Garrus reassures her, probably seeing her pained expression. "The burdens of leadership getting to you?"
"Think I need a stiff drink right about now," Shepard mutters, heading back to her quarters, mentally already opening the bottle of bourbon she has secured a few days back on the Citadel. "If my intercom is still switched off by the time we reach Korlus, just go fetch that Okeer yourselves..."
Shepard wakes several hours later, in a slight daze, someone whacking hard on the doors of her quarters. She staggers out of the bed and flicks the button to slide the doors open, revealing a particularly impatient looking Operative Lawson. "Shepard, we have arrived at Korlus, and you're not even ready?" she asks, every word laced with admonishment.
Shepard clears her throat before speaking. "Yeah, and I forgot to tell you the reason for that," she finally says. "I thought it would be a good idea for you to be in charge of this mission, Miranda. I mean, you're practically my XO, I should entrust you with more responsibility."
Miranda is taken aback, her mouth wide open from surprise. "That is... very unexpected. Thank you for placing trust in me, Commander," she quickly recovers. "May I choose the squad myself?"
Shepard just nods and watches Miranda leave in a particularly determined step. She closes the door to her quarters, stops at the bathroom to wash her face and then returns to sit on the sofa, but not before refilling her glass with more bourbon. She works on her omni-tool for a moment, bringing up various images from her and Liara's vacation on Earth. There's one she loves in particular, they are both sitting on a bench in one of the grand plazas in Florence, Liara's head is resting on her shoulder as they lazily throw breadcrumbs to a flock of hungry and expectant pigeons.
"So, Tevos says you're an information broker on Ilium now," Shepard says aloud, drunkenly talking to herself. "If you're a good information broker, then you must know I'm alive by now. Why haven't you made contact, Liara?" She takes another big swig of the booze. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this... as soon as I figure out some flimsy pretext to turn this ship around and towards Ilium..."
Two years have passed. She has moved on, she has to have moved on. There's someone else, that's why she's not contacting me, she thinks, the dark thoughts combined with the booze making the great and unflappable Commander Shepard weepy like a child that has lost their favorite toy. "One way or another... I'm going to find out the truth and then move on. For better or worse."