The Candidate – 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect. All that belongs to Bioware and Drew Karpyshyn. I am merely playing in their world.

Complications

Shepard bowed, "If you could give me the details, Matron Dantius, I would be delighted to look into the matter."

The diplomat nodded, "Eight days ago, my sister and a couple of her friends were travelling on Sharjila. They were ambushed by a band of thugs who killed her friends and have taken her prisoner."

"The police on Sharjila is no doubt aware of the attack?"

"Certainly. But as far as they know, all the occupants of her car are dead. The bodies of my sister's friends have been found and the car had rolled down a deep hillside, into a rapidly flowing stream. The police believe that my sister's body was washed away, and is unlikely to be found. They have no reason to suspect that my sister has been kidnapped."

"And how do the the police account for the attack on the car?"

"They believe it to be the handiwork of Batarian separatists. They are focussing their energies in that direction."

"What was she doing there?" inquired Shepard quietly.

"She was on holiday, Commander," answered the Asari diplomat, a touch stiffly it seemed.

Shepard merely looked expectantly and she continued, "The demand for ransom came a day afterwards. A recording of my sister reciting the day's Lusian News, along with the kidnappers' demands. We had the voiceprint checked. It is hers alright."

"I take it that you checked it for a compilation?" inquired Shepard.

"Of course," nodded the Asari. "It was not taken from a previous recording, nor compiled from her other speech. It was a genuine unbroken speech and has been verified as such by experts"

"And then?"

"A ransom of a three million credits was demanded. We complied as soon as we verified that the demand was genuine. This was five days ago."

Shepard's lips thinned into a line. "I see, Matron Dantius. But she has not been released?"

"No. We instead got a demand for another five million credits the day before yesterday!"

Shepard nodded, "Can I see the demands for the ransom?"

"Certainly, Commander Shepard." She excused herself, disappeared into the embassy, and brought a holo-vid display device and a recording cartridge. When she played it, it displayed the image of an Asari standing in a scantily furnished room. None of her captors were visible. The Asari, a figure that closely resembled Nassana, but was heavier and stockier, recited the headlines of the day's Lusian News – a report about the breaking up of a bunch of slavers on a Salarian planet – and then assured the other members of the Dantius family that she was safe and well, and that her kidnappers wanted three million credits to be credited to another Lusian bank – the Gladion-Sonaza Bank - for her release.

Shepard listened to the demand in hard lipped silence, and then inquired, "The second demand?"

The diplomat inserted another cartridge and a similar recital followed – a further report about the slaver ring. Shepard put his finger tips together and inquired, "How did the demands arrive?"

"By courier to me. We checked with the couriers and found that both of them were sent from Vorkuta, Sharjila."

"I see," replied Shepard slowly. "So what steps have you taken?"

"Eclipse mercenaries have kept a watch on Vorkuta – it is the only spaceport and my sister has not been through this place. No other ships have landed on Sharjila outside the spaceport - we have discreetly kept watch on the planet and we are certain of this."

Shepard nodded, and Nassana continued, "Our people in the Gladion say that the person who owns the account to which we transferred the credits has never been seen. It is an account which has only been operated remotely by someone named Avestroni Mantius. Her address is also on Vorkuta, Sharjila."

"Has the address been checked out?"

"Yes, of course. The address does not exist."

"Very well, Matron Dantius, what do you wish me to do?"

"We wish for my sister to be returned to us unharmed and without any fuss. We cannot be seen to be appearing in this matter," She looked very seriously at the Alliance officer. "Secrecy is of paramount importance, Commander Shepard."

Shepard nodded in understanding, and asked, "Her captors?"

"Are inconsequential," returned the Asari diplomat. "Deal with them as you will. We don't care about them, as long as we don't appear in the matter."

"And the ransom?"

The Asari shrugged, "Negotiate it. We want to have her back once we have paid the ransom this time, though."

"C'est bon," nodded Shepard. "I will keep in touch with you, Matron Dantius. Give my regards to the Matriarch."

With that, Shepard and Liara exited the Asari embassy.

-(Scene Break)-

Shepard had fallen into a profound reflection as he and Liara emerged from the Asari embassy, having made the bargain with Nassana to find her sister, Dahlia Dantius. Liara questioned timidly, "Shepard, what do you think about this kidnapping?"

Shepard roused himself from his reverie with a start. "There are five possibilities for the kind of kidnappers, Liara. Only five. The first kind are the amateurs. They usually plan badly, and only succeed by luck or fluke. They have little nerve, which is bad for the victim, but can usually be bluffed or tricked. But these were not amateurs."

"How can you say that?" inquired Liara.

"You heard Nassana talk about her sister's two friends? Well, I will wager you what you like that they were her bodyguards." Seeing her puzzled expression, he explained, "The Dantius family travels well guarded, Liara. Her two `friends' are most likely to have been two Eclipse mercenaries, well trained Asari commandos and very capable. If someone managed to ambush them, and take Nassana's sister captive, then they are likely to have been very good. Consequently, it cannot have been amateurs."

Liara nodded slowly, following Shepard's reasoning, and added, "You were saying about the kidnappers?"

"Yes, the second kind would be the fanatics. They are all driven by some cause – political, social or religious. They will all kill and die for it. But these kidnappers don't seem to be fanatics."

"Why not?"

"The only fanatics of any significance on Sharjila are the Batarian separatists. All fanatics love publicity, Liara. If the Batarian separatists – or another ideological group had taken Dahlia Dantius, they would have publicised it by now, if only to make the Alliance look bad. But, Lusia is on excellent terms with the Batarian Hegemony and these separatists have had much political and moral support from the Asari republics. None of them would want to jeopardise all that, particularly by offending a very powerful family like the Dantius, even for the sake of a few million credits. There is, however, the off chance that low level separatist thugs are holding her prisoner, without informing their superiors. But that is not very likely. The attack will have been known by now. If the Batarians had done it, their superiors would have realised by now, and they would have jumped in. Also, the Dantius family has been backing many of these escapades and I am almost certain that Matriarch Orazia has discreetly tried to find out if any of the Batarian separatist groups were involved. Therefore, it is not very likely to be fanatics"

"I see, Shepard. What are the others?"

"The third kind are the maniacs. These are the worst from a victim's point of view. They want nothing material. They just kill for fun or kicks. But these are not maniacs."

"Why do you say that?"

"Maniacs are rarely good planners, Liara. They have no particular preferences about who they take, torture and kill. Also, if they killed two of the bodyguards, they would not just take the one person prisoner. Bloodlust works in strange ways – once aroused, it is really hard to contain, to control. But this bunch has taken her and is keeping her safe, waiting for ransom without harming her. This is not very typical of maniacs."

Liara nodded, and Shepard continued his explanation, "The fourth kind is the professional kidnapper. This breed works only for money. They are greedy and this second demand as soon as the first one was promptly fulfilled is very typical of the professional kidnapper. Also, if they were after Dahlia, it is very likely they waited patiently for their chance and grabbed it in the sparsely populated Sharjila. So, professional kidnappers are a very distinct possibility."

"And the last kind?" questioned Liara.

"The ones with a private grudge," returned Shepard unhesitatingly. "These are the most dangerous, simply because, as outsiders, it is very hard for us to understand and gauge their motivations and mindset. They can plan very well, and they can be cool headed enough to bleed the Dantius family through these ransoms. And the Dantius family has plenty of powerful enemies. So that is the other possibility." Shepard mused softly, "However, there are two very strange points about this case, Liara. Two things that I cannot really put my finger on."

"And what are they?"

"Nothing strikes you as unusual?" inquired the Spectre in obvious surprise. When the Asari maiden shook her head, Shepard returned, "Well, think about it, and we'll compare notes some other time. Now is the moment for action, and we can go into long winded explanations later."

Liara digested the Spectre's words in silence. Finally, she asked, "So, what should we do, Shepard? Should we inform the Alliance now?"

"No." Shepard shook his head. "The last thing we need is to let the Alliance – or the Council – know that we have been in contact with the Dantius family.

"What are we going to do now?"

"We simply don't have the manpower or the time to go rescuing Dahlia. This is a hostage rescue job, and we are, therefore, simply going to outsource this matter to people who are experts in this field."

"But Nassana insisted on secrecy ...," protested the Asari archaeologist.

Shepard shrugged indifferently, "I don't think she expects two people to rescue her sister from a bunch of kidnappers." Seeing her dubious look, Shepard almost grimaced, "Liara, there are seventy five thousand people on Sharjila, most of them Batarian. Very few of them will even talk to us, so there is precious little we can do there on our own, even if we had the time to investigate. There are a million hidey-holes on the planet, and it is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack."

"So what do we do?"

Shepard smiled demurely, "First, we find Charn. He knows Sharjila better than anyone else. After all, that planet has been Batarian space for far longer than it has been Alliance space. If anyone can find these kidnappers, it is him."

"Charn? Who is he?"

"A Batarian friend of mine. He used to be a captain in the Batarian State Army. We need to find where he is now. Kulikov should be able to locate him."

-(Scene Break)-

When the Spectre returned to his office in C-Sec, he had an unpleasant surprise awaiting him. Ashley Williams greeted him in the doorway, and saluted him, "Sir, Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina want to speak to you. They say it is urgent."

Shepard's eyebrows went up, but he consented. Excusing himself, he accompanied the Alliance soldier. He found Lt. Alenko, Captain Anderson and the Ambassador waiting for him impatiently. "Ah – there you are, Shepard,"

Shepard saluted the older officer. "How may I help, sirs?"

Anderson took up the tale, "Shepard, just a few hours ago, there was a major terrorist attack on Terra Nova by the Batarians. They were led by a bastard named Balak." Shepard's lips had tightened at the name, but he merely looked on. "His group attacked an asteroid that was being moved to Terra Nova's orbit for mining, and they tried to reprogram the asteroid to collide with the planet. Had the attack succeeded, all life on the planet would have been wiped out, and the planet become uninhabitable." The trio were closely watching Shepard for any reactions, but beyond a certain repugnance at the mention of Balak, and a slight wince about the potentially catastrophic consequences of the attack, Shepard betrayed none. "What happened, then, Captain?" he queried.

"The Normandy was nearby when the engineers on the asteroid broadcast a distress signal about their situation. Lt. Alenko here led a team of marines to investigate the distress signal. His team was able to stop the asteroid from colliding with the planet and re-stabilise its orbit."

"That was excellent work, lieutenant," complimented Shepard. "And Balak?"

Lieutenant Alenko answered with a shrug, "He took hostages, Commander. We were forced to let him go."

"Pity," muttered Shepard. "But it comes out the way it is written. But what has all this to do with me?"

"Among the Batarians we captured is a certain Charn."

Shepard was taken aback. "You captured Charn?! He was involved in the attack!?"

"You know him, Commander?" Anderson's voice was quiet and firm.

Shepard nodded slowly, "Yes. Yes, I know him."

"How you know him?" the question came like a pistol shot.

Shepard was thinking furiously. By the time Anderson came to him, he and Udina would have found out all about Charn from Adm. Barzilai. And given the seriousness of the attack and the situation, Adm. Barzilai would have told them everything about Charn – well, everything he knew anyway. The questioning session was precisely to determine how much Shepard would tell them. There was little point in hiding his association with Charn to Anderson. Shepard answered slowly, "He works for the Alliance."

"He works for the Alliance, or for you?" The question had come sharply from Anderson.

"I commanded an operation for the Alliance, which involved him, sir," returned Shepard quietly.

"I see indeed, Commander Shepard. He claims to work for you, however," Anderson's voice was arctic. He continued heavily, "He claimed as much when he was captured. But we did not believe him."

"How was he captured, Captain?"

"He and his men were guarding a bunch of hostages, Commander – a group of engineers. When we approached them, they simply gave themselves up to us," answered Lt. Alenko.

"What was your underling doing attacking a human planet, Shepard?" demanded Udina.

"What is his explanation, Captain?" Shepard questioned Anderson, ignoring the Ambassador;s question, not so much as caring to bestow a look at the man.

"He has offered none, Shepard," replied the Captain. "He merely says that he will speak only with you," returned the Captain. "But can you offer any insight into why he was on Terra Nova, Cmdr. Shepard?"

Shepard answered succinctly, "No." He answered the unspoken question, "He certainly wasn't there on my orders." He paused for a moment and then continued, "I see indeed, Captain. I take it you wish me to accompany you, then?"

"Right away, if you please, Commander," answered Captain Anderson, with Alenko nodding in assent.

Inwardly, Shepard cursed the fate that had thrown this obstacle in his path. Now, securing the release of Charn into his custody would be extremely difficult. Hell, his own freedom was likely to be in question now. But there was nought he could do but to accept the situation.

Shepard rapidly typed a message apiece into his omnitool for Tali and Garrus, and then walked into the Normandy, Anderson and Alenko in front of him, and Ashley Williams behind him. They were clearly not going to let him out of their sight.

-(Scene Break)-

A quick flight on the Normandy brought them to the asteroid on which the Batarians had been captured and confined. There were two score Batarians in all, who had been captured, and they had all been incarcerated inside a small bunker where the engineers had been working. Seeing Captain Anderson, and Kaidan Alenko, followed by Commander Shepard, the sentries saluted and permitted him inside. Inside the bunker, Adm. Mikhailovich was sitting on a chair, interrogating a tall Batarian. When Shepard, Anderson, Alenko and Williams appeared in the doorway, saluting the superior officer, Mikhailovich welcomed, "Come in, come in. Shepard, we have been waiting for you. Can you please identify him, Commander?"

"That is Undom'aal Charn, alright, sir," replied Shepard crisply. "Charn, how are you?"

Charn bowed in gratitude at the greeting, but inwardly, was grateful that Shepard had not disowned him – the easy, cordial greeting confirmed as much. Here, at least, was one human who was not going to throw him to the varren. It would be the height of irony if he was killed by humans for trying to save them.

"I see," returned Admiral Mikhailovich, frowning at Shepard's courteous greeting of the Batarian. "He has refused to speak except in your presence. We'd be grateful if you would remain."

"At your service, Admiral," bowed Shepard. "Charn, what happened? Last I heard, you were in the Artemis Tau cluster, trying to find out about a bunch of missing marines."

Charn once more thanked him inwardly, the four eyes fixing on the young human in gratitude. But Shepard's intervention caused the Alliance officers to frown. Williams growled under her breath. Mikhailovich reprimanded, "Commander Shepard, we'll ask the questions, if you please."

"Of course, of course," murmured Shepard contritely. "My apologies, sir!"

With forced politeness, the Admiral once more addressed himself to the Batarian, "Mr. Charn – will you please tell us what you and your men were doing here."

The Babarian began, "I run a mercenary outfit. As Commander Shepard said, we were looking for some missing marines in the Artemis Tau Cluster when we were contacted by a Hegemony front man who wanted to use our services for an attack on a major human colony. We did not know that Terra Nova was the target. We assumed that it was a slave grabbing raid."

Both Adm. Mikhailovich and Capt. Anderson exchanged frowning glances at this. There was fury and contempt in the eyes of all Alliance officers except Shepard.

Capt. Anderson interjected, "Very well – so this Hegemony representative contacted you for what you thought was a slave grab. And you signed on?"

The Batarian grimaced unpleasantly at the human. "No, we found out that the man to lead the raid was Ka'hairal Balak. So we signed on."

Shepard's head snapped up, and his lips tightened, but he said nothing. Adm. Mikhailovich demanded, "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Just that my men and I want to kill him!" sneered the Batarian.

"What?!" Everyone in the room except Shepard was startled. But Shepard was simply nodding as if the whole thing finally made sense. Adm. Mikhailovich sneered back, "And to kill Balak, you decided to vapourise the planet of Terra Nova?"

"No, you fool!" snarled the Batarian. "It's because of me and my men that your precious planet's still living!"

Alenko growled at this open disrespect and Ashley snarled, "Mind your tongue, you bastard!", but Capt. Anderson intervened before anyone did anything rash, "Perhaps you could explain, Mr. Charn?"

"Who allowed that engineer to broadcast the distress signal? I did! Who told her the positions of the Hegemony troops? I did! Who kept those engineers safe from Balak? I did!" The Batarian had tilted his head to the right – a clear indication of the contempt he felt towards his interrogators. Shepard sighed – Charn's temper was always a problem, as was his fixation on Balak. Before Charn could continue in the vein, he intervened mildly, "Charn, you said you wanted to kill Balak."

Charn's posture became a little more respectful, and his manner seemed to deflate a little as he replied, "Yes, Commander. When we all boarded ships, I made sure that my men were all in my ship, while Balak and his people were in the other two ships. I managed to replace Balak's personal liquor supplies with a bomb!"

"You did what?!" Both Captain Anderson and Adm. Mikhailovich had jumped. Williams looked sceptical, while Alenko sniffed disdainfully.

Captain Anderson questioned, "You planned to blow up Balak and his ship. What then?"

The Batarian made a gesture that Shepard recognised to be the human equivalent of a shrug. "With Balak dead, the raid would've been called off." Almost as an afterthought, he added, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips, "We had taken care to be paid before hand. Full pay for no work sounds good to me!"

Everyone was looking askance at the Batarian who could contemplate murder of a ship full of mercenaries, without batting an eyelid. Shepard recovered the fastest. "Can you describe Balak's ship, Charn? And the package where the bomb was?"

The Batarian rattled off a quick description of the package and the ship, at which Alenko intervened for the first time addressing himself to the Admiral. "Sir, that ship's here on the asteroid – Balak's people fled in one ship, leaving two others behind. We can check if his bomb's there," nodding towards the captive Charn.

Admiral Mikhailovich slowly murmured, "There is a lot of checking up to be done in this tale." He gestured to the guards, "Take him away and keep him under guard. I shall send for him when I need him!"

Shepard added as the guards began to prod the Batarian mercenary, "Don't take our your frustrations and anger on him – and tell the other guards not to do so either. He really is on our side!"

The two superior officers frowned at this unwarranted interference from their junior. The Admiral turned to Shepard, Alenko and Ashley Williams. "Alenko – you, take Williams and Shepard and try to find this bomb this Batarian spoke of." Shepard stiffened – he was the senior officer, yet Alenko was the one being asked to find the bomb. It showed the depths of distrust for him in the Alliance, as Adm. Mikhailovich continued, "Capt. Anderson and I'll go around interviewing the engineers to see if what this Batarian said is true!"

Everyone saluted the Admiral as they began to file out of the makeshift building.

-(Scene Break)-

Fifteen minutes later, Shepard, Alenko and Williams were combing the ship mentioned by Charn when Ashley Williams called out that she had found the package that Charn had described. Shepard and Lt. Alenko hurried down to the woman, and from her, they retrieved the package. In the presence of Alenko and Williams, Shepard carried the package to a table and with a pocketknife cut the package open. Quickly, he examined the bomb that Charn had put together.

The bomb had been a fairly simple one – a design with Shepard approved of. The explosive had been packed in two layers of plastic explosive, with a silent acid fuse attached to the top. Quickly running his eyes over the open circuitry, he saw that the fuse had worked, the glass capsule had been crushed, the acid had been released from the vial and had burnt through the wire, and the little hammer had hit home, but the detonator's percussion cap had failed to react. Shepard's eyes closed in horror and frustration. "Gott in Himmel!" he murmured,while Alenko, who had been looking over the shoulder, whispered, "God! Of all the times, of all the places, it had to happen now!"

"I think I know what happened," murmured Shepard. He turned to Ashley Williams"Was this package in the cargo compartment?"

The Gunnery Chief nodded.

"The unpressurised cargo compartment! They loaded the bomb in there, by mistake," muttered Shepard bitterly. "It would have been forty degrees below freezing in there. No wonder the detonator cap did not react!"

"What do you mean?' snapped Williams.

"Balak's personal liquor supplies," answered Shepard with a twisted smile. "The bastard is famous for carrying his liquor everywhere with him. No one would dare to open his personal liquor supplies, so it was the safest place to put the bomb. And Balak would not drink just before a mission, so he wouldn't find out either!"

Shepard was still lost in his own thoughts when Ashley demanded, "Who is this Balak, skipper?"

Shepard answered precisely, "Captain Ka'hairal Balak, one of the most infamous criminals in the galaxy, is the deputy head of the Hegemony Main Economic Bureau."

"The economic bureau?" Williams' face showed her puzzlement. "I don't understand ..."

Shepard took a deep breath, as he replied, "The bulk of the crimes committed by the Batarians can be laid at the doors of two departments of the Hegemony – the Hegemony Main Security Office, and the Hegemony Main Economic Bureau."

The other two Alliance officers looked at him questioningly, and Shepard nodded, "I'll explain."

Pausing for a moment to arrange his thoughts, Shepard's lips quirked in a cynical smile as he began his explanation, "The Hegemony is determined, you see, that not only should the humans and other species in what it determines to be Batarian space be exterminated, but also that the victims should pay for this privilege. The payment usually comes in three stages."

He sighed as he paced around, chin sunk on chest, "The first stage is when the Batarian slavers or their pirate allies rob the victims of their worldly possessions – their ships, their homes, their factories, their produce, their vehicles, their cash, their clothes, their furniture, and whatever else can be ripped out and transported to Hegemony space. This is what we generally see in the aftermath of Hegemony raids."
Williams was looking furious, but Alenko nodded slowly, as Shepard continued, "Once the enslaved get to the Batarian slave camps, they are robbed of their whatever other valuables are on their persons. Back from these camps, run under the watchful eyes of the Hegemony's Economic Bureau, flows a veritable river of gold and silver trinkets, rubies, sapphires, and other jewels, and banknotes of every denomination and description." He turned to smile, a trifle bitterly, at the other two, "Despite Citadel sanctions, much of it, by the way, finds its way into the bank vaults of Thessia and Lusia, for the complacent and self-righteous bankers of these planets guard their clients' possessions jealously, and feel no great compulsion to look into the sources of this wealth."

He continued, "The second stage of the payment is what we hear about from the rescued and the odd escapees. This comes in the form of the living bodies of the victims. The contain calories of energy, you see, and these can be profitably exploited. At this stage, those too weak to work – which includes almost all salarians and quarians – are exterminated as useless. The rest are hired out on a daily basis to the factories, mines and workshops of not only the Hegemony, but also the various Terminus planets. The usual rate is three credits a day for unskilled labour and four credits a day for skilled labour." He shook his head, "The phrase `per day' is misleading. It should be taken to mean as much work as can be extracted from a living body for as little food as possible within the timeframe of a batarian day. Few survive this treatment for more than a year. Hundreds of thousands die each year this way."

He continued, his eyes weary, "The final phase of exploitation comes from the corpses of the victims. The hair of the victims is used in the lining of the shoes. Other uses of the corpses have been attempted, but none have been found economical." Ashley was looking volcanic, and even Alenko was keeping his temper under check with some effort.

"And that – that is the Batarian ..." Alenko's voice trailed away.

"Aye," nodded Shepard. "Twice now, Charn has attempted to assassinate him. The first time, mercenaries in our pay battered Balak's camp with rocket fire. He escaped unhurt. And you saw what happened here." Shepard gave a fatalistic shrug. "The Devil's hand protects him!" Even as Shepard was explaining the situation to his audience, he wondered how he was going to talk his and Charn's way out of the mess.

-(Author's Notes)-

So – Shepard finds himself in a right mess. More explanations, including what Charn was doing to continue in the next chapter. And Charn was looking for the missing marines which is going to be another important sub quest.

By the way, do try to guess where the idea for putting a bomb disguised as a bottle of alcohol comes from. Hint: Vinnitsa, 1943.

As usual, all comments and criticisms are welcome.