DISCLAIMER – I do not own Mass Effect franchise, the story, or any of its characters. All rights go to Bioware.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Welp, I suppose I owe ALL my readers an apology – because you lot obviously HAVE been paying a close attention to the details and hints that I had been leaving, yet I, in my infinite stupidity hadn't had faith in all of you!
But yeah, I had been a little weirded out, I suppose, when nobody said anything about it that first time. I guess I figured that reviews should be like a feedback for whatever stuff the reviewers notice so that I could know whether I was doing a good job. Not seeing anyone saying anything about it had had me slightly confused back then, I guess…
But! I'm happy to hear that's not the case! I love you guys! (And that's not the disproportionate amounts of alcohol talking). And thanks for all those reviews. Keep em up! I want to know what you think, even if it's criticism.
Chapter posted on 22.2.2017.
Main Tags: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure, Friendship building, Love.
Additional Tags: Slowly turning AU, Technology-heavy, Geopolitical themes (to an extent), Economic themes (there are some), Intrigue (a bit o' that, too)…
Rated M – for mature and adult content.
Enjoy…
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Chapter 18 – The Ambush
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"I am already receiving feedback," Liara said as she worked her terminal at her apartment.
"Anything useful?" Jaina asked from her covered vantage point near the large window where she was carefully observing the outside area, her sniper ready in her hand.
"A lot," Liara replied significantly. "Several of my friends have informed me that certain people had come to them in the previous months, asking questions about me. Some dropped Benezia's name. I'm pretty sure we're dealing with the same group here."
"Makes perfect sense," Kaidan spoke from where he was positioned to guard the main entrance. "Your mother – or by extension, Saren – has tried to get to you once already, on the Citadel."
"And if what you say about Illium is true, their job is a lot easier here," Ashley added.
"Heads up," Jaina called. "Marcus and his group are here."
The skycar in question had landed on the landing pad far down and in front of Liara's building. The four people were exiting the car, watching their surroundings warily, before moving. Jaina noticed a movement in the corner of her eye and used her ocular cybernetics to focus on the location. A turian was there, in seemingly casual ware, but he held an air of a professional about him. She brought up her scope and noticed his jaw barely moving, but he was speaking alright. And this man was one of the several watchers she had already marked out.
"Marcus, we see you from up here," Jaina called through the comms as the group walked toward the building's entrance. "I have four unknown agents watching the place."
"I've seen one – the turian," Marcus replied as he walked. "Do we have any idea who they work for exactly?"
"No, but they have an air of ex-military," Jaina replied. "Two turians, asari, and a salarian. There might be a fifth, but I couldn't confirm." She squinted in suspicion. "One more thing, though; something about these people says they're not all from the same agency."
"Roger that," Marcus replied as he crossed the lobby.
Two minutes later, he called: "I'm in front of the door. Open up."
Kaidan tapped the holographic lock and opened the door to welcome the four people.
"Status?" Marcus queried as the crew spread out across the spacious apartment.
"I have finished setting up all of the virtual networks I'd need," Liara replied as she raised her omni-tool hand. "All of the nodes go through my omni-tool now. It will be hard to track once we set it up through the Normandy's Spectre-privileged comm channels. I'm just about to begin scrubbing the terminal."
"Have you found any bugs when you swept the place?" Marcus asked as he turned to Kaidan.
"I found several with my scanning programs," he replied, then pointed toward the kitchen with his chin. "Their crushed remains are soaking in the sink right now."
"You're sure that's all of them?" Marcus asked as he raised and set his omni-tool. "A full area EMP blast should take care of everything."
"Shepard, no, please!" Liara spoke up in distress, raising her hand to stop him. "You'll electrocute all of my fish!"
Marcus frowned, and then looked to the side where she was pointing, noticing a large wall-spanning aquarium filled with oblivious little fishes of various kinds. A VI-controlled electronic system that controlled food and water filtration spanned the entire tank and a single overload would be enough for it to send electrocuting sparks of current all throughout the saline water.
"Oh," he said in realization and lowered the omni-tool. "Right."
Liara breathed a sigh of relief.
"So what?" Wrex rumbled. "We could always eat them!"
"I'd be with Wrex on this one if the fish were dextro-based," Garrus jumped in, immediately. "We, turians, don't really understand the asari and human tendency to keep fish that's not for eating."
"Not funny!" Liara pouted angrily.
Wrex and Garrus chuckled.
"You men always like to do things bluntly," Tali stepped up, raising her omni-tool, and punching in a few commands. "You need to realize that some things can be done with finesse."
The omni-tool made a charging sound, then made a few beeps.
"There," Tali declared proudly. "All done. I had sent out a low-frequency signal that would've been picked up by monitoring devices only and would scramble their circuitry."
"A physical hack," Kaidan nodded. "A pretty ingenious thing to do. Nice work, Tali."
The quarian girl shifted on her feet, fighting off nervousness, before nodding firmly.
"How's that terminal scrub going, Liara?" Marcus asked?
"It will take a little while," she said as she tapped away on the keyboard.
"A little while?!" Wrex exclaimed. "Why don't we just pop a few rounds in it?"
"You obviously don't know how quantum memory banks work," Tali commented. "A quantum-electric trail can be detected even once the physical chip is damaged. You need to activate a special type of formatting and let the software destroy itself."
"Just take your time, Liara," Marcus said, ending further discussion.
He took up a slow walk around the apartment as the rest of the team settled to further securing and scouting the outer area. Garrus had taken up a sniper nest at an opposite side of the large window from Jaina, Wrex took the main entrance, and Tali sent out a group of drones through the air ducts and kept sweeping the wide block area with her enhanced sensor systems.
Marcus approached Jaina. "What do you think?" he asked.
"Something's going on down there," she said, not taking her eyes off of the street perimeter. "I'm positive that we're dealing with two groups from different agencies. One is the three-people team, and another is that single asari over at that café far down. They don't work together. The bigger group is agitated like something is about to happen. The single asari is observing them as much as she is observing us, and she knows we know she's there."
"Pretty strange for an agent to work alone," Marcus said as he scrutinized the asari in question.
"Not unheard of," Jaina replied. "The question is: who either of them is working for?"
Marcus nodded, then stood up and walked up to Tali.
"Anything?" he asked.
"I have detected an active penetrative scan directed at this apartment," she said. "It is coming from one salarian's tool – one of the members of the first team that Jaina had picked up. I am jamming him right now. I will attempt to jack into their comm systems."
"Keep at it," he said, then slowly walked around the apartment, and for the first time since he walked in, he took an actual look around the place.
He only saw apartments like this in the vids; high class, spacious, with a high ceiling, a huge wall-spanning window, and stylishly furbished interior. And then he saw the Prothean artifacts. A strange sensation of familiarity swept over him as his eyes scanned the objects. He approached the meter-high, smooth, monolithic object of straight vertical lines, sheets of stone and metal arrayed in a similar way like in a beacon. It was used as a… terminal of some kind, a memory told him.
He took off his left gauntlet and reached out with his hand toward the stony artifact. An unclear image tickled the back of his mind as soon as his fingers touched the surface. That wasn't right, he thought with a frown, then looked sideways. Why did I think it wasn't right?
His eyes fell on the other objects that laid nearby. Three of what the modern-day scientific community thought were Prothean OSD-s were neatly arrayed one next to each other. He knew better, though; something in the back of his head was now telling him that these were more than mere OSD-s but actual processor units.
He touched each one, in turn, his fingers lingering for a few seconds, and whenever he touched, an unmistakable set of new senses accompanied it. Faded images, almost like an echo from a dream that one couldn't properly remember in the morning.
He looked at the last object – a volleyball-sized sphere whose surface shined like a mirror – recognizing it instantly as one type of a memory-transference device. But how? How could he know all this? The only explanation he had was that the Cipher had given him more than anyone had bargained for. And this… incomplete sensation whenever he touched things… what was that?
"It's done!" Liara called from where she had been meticulously scrubbing her terminal. "It has all been wiped clean."
Marcus nodded. "Kaidan, blast that terminal with a concentrated EMP," he said.
"You got it," the man replied as he approached the device, activating his omni-tool.
"Liara," Marcus spoke up as the electric sparks stopped sizzling across the now-dead terminal. "These Prothean artifacts here – we need to bring them with us. We just need the OSD-s and the memory orb. Find us something to transport them in."
Liara looked to the artifacts for a moment, then nodded firmly, hustling to bring some bags from her closet. They packed the orb into the padded bag and placed the "OSD-s" into secure pockets in their armor.
Just as Marcus was about to open his mouth to issue new orders, the apartment's telephone rang. Everybody froze as they watched the wall-mounted terminal flicker with a green icon of an incoming call.
Marcus unholstered his rifle, fully expecting this call to be a distraction for something bigger, and then nodded to Liara. The young asari approached the terminal and pressed the button for picking up the call.
"This is Liara T'Soni," she spoke.
"Miss T'Soni," a pleasant female voice from the other side spoke, "I work for the Shadow Broker. Commander Shepard, I would like to speak with you, specifically. My employer has a business proposition that you'd be very interested in, I assure you."
Marcus was silent for a couple of seconds, with everyone's heads turning his way.
"Speak your piece," he said.
"My employer has authorized me to offer you certain information on the quarry that you'd been pursuing. For a price, of course."
"What are you offering, and what are your terms?" he asked.
"I am offering information on Saren's non-mobile assets, as well as the most relevant businesses he is invested in," the woman said. "The price is ten million standard galactic credits, non-negotiable. The transfer of credits and information will be done via this link."
Marcus's omni-tool beeped, and he activated it to show an icon that would have marked the transference of credits and data.
"This is a one-time offer, Commander," the woman continued. "Should you refuse, the price will be significantly higher later on. This offer expires in two minutes, as of – now."
"That's a generous offer," Wrex spoke up loudly. "A little too generous for something as big as what you're offering."
"That is because of the quarrel my employer has with Saren, Urdnot Wrex," the woman replied, then addressed Marcus again: "The Shadow Broker is aware that you are setting up a rudimentary information network, Commander. Think of this as a corporate buyout: we provide you the information you are looking for, we earn money, hinder Saren who is our enemy, and peacefully remove the information network competition. It is well worth the discount. Ninety seconds, Commander."
Marcus looked to Wrex. The krogan made a grimace and wrinkled his nose pointedly, shaking his head in the no.
"I refuse," Marcus replied succinctly, and gave Liara the signal to close the channel.
"That's unf –" the woman's disappointed voice came through before the line was cut.
"This is rotten, Shepard," Wrex growled. "Shadow Broker doesn't make offers with such a narrow deadline. The shortest I've ever heard of was an hour, and it's almost never done."
"I'd have to agree with Wrex," Liara spoke up uncertainly. "From my limited experience, there is no need for such a thing. The information brokering is like an auction – it goes to the highest bidder, not first-come-first-served basis. I don't know why she was told to do this!"
"I think I know the reason!" Tali spoke up hurriedly from where she had been monitoring her omni-tool. "My drones had picked up a formation of shuttles heading our way. They'll be here in under two minutes!"
"Move it, people!" Marcus roared without wasting a moment, furiously motioning them toward the door with a swipe of his arm.
The stampeding thump of armored feet echoed throughout as the team hustled through the door and down the hallway.
"Tali, Liara, in the back of the elevator! Ash and Garrus, next! Jaina, Kaidan – guard the sides! Wrex, you and I, middle front - exit first."
The big krogan grunted in the affirmative as he readied his machinegun, the cooling system's fans spinning up to max, and the interior of the elevator began to twist in a swirl of blue as all of the biotics present began channeling the mass effect into barriers.
"Helmets on, people!" Marcus called, and there was a rustle as they mounted them on. "We don't know what weapons they'll use on us."
"My sensor sweeps are picking up twelve signatures consistent with weapons and armor on a person," Tali called out. "Main hall, strategic disposition of troops on all sides, covering the elevator doors and more sweeping in by the second. Linking it up to your omni-tools."
"Can you jam their sensors?" Marcus asked as he crouched, readying his rifle.
"Way ahead of you," she said. "They don't know what's coming down. Hang on… I'm detecting a group of mech signatures out of cover, straight in front of the elevator exit – shock troops to soak up damage."
"Shredded metal, as much as I'm concerned," Wrex rumbled as he primed his machinegun.
The floor counter counted: 3… 2… 1… 0. There was a ding, and the doors slid open.
A strong glow of an enemy searchlight surged into the elevator, its goal to blind everyone present and force them to hesitation as several flashbangs sailed through the air toward them, blasting straight in front of them. To zero effect.
The hailstorm of explosive rounds sailed forth from the elevator as no less than four heavily modified Mattocks-N7 Strikers and one Devastator machinegun had a clear line of fire, interspersed with several rapid launches of concussive shots making a series of thundering shockwaves.
A rising surge of surprised shouts and painful screams echoed throughout the building's large lobby as the attackers tried to organize a counterattack, with shots beginning to strike the shields and barriers of Marcus's team, trying to force them into a defensive.
And then, Wrex sent out a biotic shockwave and charged forward with a thunderous roar.
"Watch out! The krogan!" someone shouted before there was an audible "hurgh!" as someone was sent flying.
Marcus followed Wrex without wasting a second, launching himself with a biotic charge to the far side of the hall, slamming into his target and sending out a nova blast. He rolled into cover, avoiding the stream of gunfire directed his way, and then laid down a stream of continuous suppressive fire toward the encroaching enemy.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the rest of his team had already fanned out of the elevator and into the cover, stepping across the shredded pieces of twisted metal that used to have been the enemy mechs before they too added their fire support.
Far in front of them, Wrex was acting like a force of nature, flinging the screaming mercs all over the place in an impressive display of biotics and melee, switching to his claymore and eviscerating all at close quarters. Bodies were flying through the air like ragdolls as the mercs screamed in pain, and the mounting crescendo of gunfire enveloped the entire building as the Normandy's team stormed the next line of cover.
As the hailstorm of panicking enemy gunfire turned Wrex's way and mindlessly chased after him, in a testament to his experience, the grizzled battlemaster sidestepped into a thick cover and let the heavy gunfire blindly pepper his cover until a pair of heavy anti-materiel rounds from Jaina's and Garrus's rifles blasted a pair of enemy's skulls like watermelons, the blood and brain splatter disrupting the nearby enemies.
Using the distraction, Marcus popped out of the cover and unleashed a series of controlled short bursts from his modded Mattock, the mighty explosive rounds shredding the shielding up like a sheet of paper and breaking through the armor like it wasn't even there, the concussive force blasting the material apart like it was aged mortar. The explosions staggered his enemies back like a ton of bricks, and the incendiary effect sent conflagrating shrapnel in all directions, spreading panic and disarray through the shocked and awed enemies.
"What the fuck are those weapons they're using?!" a male voice screamed.
"Shuddup and fire!" a woman shrieked back.
Frag grenades sailed through the air into the cover of Marcus's team. He vaulted forward across the cover, sending a pair of quick successive concussion shots as his teammates rolled away from the blasts, then sprayed the incoming mercs with a long burst of explosive rounds, suppressing them and buying time for his team to return fire.
More enemy frags sailed through the air, only reaching as far as Liara's broad-arcing shockwave, knocking them away from their path and making them explode to the sides harmlessly.
Popping out from behind the thick column he took cover behind, Marcus resumed his assault on the enemy's positions as the entirety of his teammates' weapons, tech, and biotic attacks joined his.
Taking the opportunity his team's suppressive fire bought him, Marcus took a moment to actually examine the enemy soldiers through the sights as he was killing them. Yellow armor. Black markings. High-grade weapons. Professional movements and behavior despite them dying in quick succession. Mechs, salarians, humans, asari.
This was the Eclipse. He, just like any N7, was familiarized with their MO via numerous briefings. First time he'd encountered them, though. They were good, he had to give them that. They returned fire solidly, launching tech and biotic attacks, knowing how to duck and dodge – all that would've been more than enough to defeat any regular country's army.
But Marcus and his team, though, were not a regular army.
Step by step, cover by cover, rush by rush, shot by shot – Marcus's team was advancing toward the enemy's position like an encroaching tide.
"We can't stop them!" they screamed as another group of mechs was ruined, another set of their biotic attacks absorbed and retaliated, and another hail of explosive rounds eroded their cover into pieces. Blood of various colors sprayed through the air in a misty haze, painting the floor and walls into a ghastly swirl of human red, asari purple, and salarian green.
"They're tearing us apart over here, dam –" a salarian shouted before his head exploded.
"Back to the shuttles! We're not equipped to deal with this!" a panicking voice ordered.
"Don't let them! I want them alive!" Marcus called before he vaulted over his newest cover and biotically charged the moment his feet hit the ground.
He flew out of the building's lobby, straight out into the open space of the building's front plaza and struck hard into the midst of the retreating group, launching a nova that sent the rest of them flying all over the place.
His shields immediately began taking bullets, screeching their protest, before another biotic attack slammed into the enemy's midst, launching a nova. Jaina!
Before any one of the two commanders even managed to rise up to defend against the retaliating mercs, a flurry of earth-shattering biotic strikes erupted all around them as enraged Liara stormed out of the building, devastating the remainder of the enemy forces in a crescendo of biotic explosions. With a final shred of energy, the young asari screamed as she slammed a broad-area biotic barrier in front of the two, blocking the incoming hailstorm of gunfire from the hovering shuttles from which the mercs had dropped out of.
The rest of the team stormed out right on her heels, unleashing the heavy covering fire against the hovering shuttles, Wrex's and Garrus's heavy weapons quickly putting extreme pressure against their vehicle-grade barriers.
With their ship-grade shields quickly beginning to scream in alarm and their ground forces defeated, the leading asari commando quickly issued orders for a retreat and the four asari-built shuttles quickly began to maneuver away, the few remaining mercs on them trying to lay down suppressive fire from above.
Ignoring the biotic fatigue that was creeping up into his veins, Marcus charged again, and the wake of biotic blue impacted the underside of the shuttle with thunderous force, making the craft stagger like a wounded bison and dislodge the asari commander into the open air.
Marcus slammed back down onto the ground from an uncontrolled drop, bouncing off of the pavement and rolling sideways before he heedlessly spun into a crouch, ignoring the tremendous pain in his left shoulder and beginning to empty his rifle's ammo into the bottom of the shuttle.
The vehicles spun as fast as they could, their armor panels beginning to take a brutal punishment from the advanced assault weapons of Marcus's team after their shields had failed before the pilots gunned the throttle and stormed away from their defeat.
The ensuing silence was only filled with the sound of buzzing in their ears.
Marcus stood up from where he was crouching, fighting down the pain and mounting pressure in his head as he activated the nutrient cocktail injection to relieve the biotic drain.
He looked around, seeing the status of his team with his own eyes, only to see a drained-looking Liara crouching down. Before he even managed to take a step, Jaina quickly stepped in, crouching down and removing the young asari's helmet as she checked her out. A thin trail of purple blood led down from her nose because of biotic overuse. Gently, Jaina wiped the blood away with her thumb, then injected a nutrient cocktail injection into Liara's neck along with a medigel dose. Liara's eyes and features instantly perked up at the stimulant, and the young asari nodded, grinning gratefully.
He released the breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Status report!" He called.
Jaina spoke up: "All squad members accounted for, minor injuries – medigel sufficient… Five hostiles captured."
He turned and saw his squadmates dragging the five surviving hostiles and forcing them to sit against a low garden wall. There were two humans, two asari, and a salarian, including the apparent leader of the entire group who nursed the scratched bump on her forehead where she had struck the pavement after she had been dislodged from the shuttle.
Marcus fully intended to interrogate them; but before that…
He approached the street light post, stood next to it, aimed, and slammed his left shoulder with all his might against it. The sickening crunch sounded, marking the return of the shoulder joint back into its rightful place. He growled, fighting down the unpleasant chills that ran down his spine, and then made a circular motion with his left arm, checking the shoulder's integrity. That would need further medical care later.
He turned toward the prisoners and stepped menacingly in front of the asari commander. The woman raised her eyes to look up at him in annoyance, spotting the N7 logo on the black armor. She chuckled mirthlessly.
"I don't know what you were doing here, human," she said. "But this ain't Alliance space. It's not even Citadel Space. Hear that?" She jerked her head sideways, toward the sounds of the approaching police sirens. "Once Illium Security gets you, we're gonna make sure you never see the light of day. And for what? A single asari kid? Pfff!"
"Illium Security!" an asari's voice called through the police car's speakers. "Drop your weapons!"
Marcus did not speak. He did not even look at the two police cars with the third that was approaching. He just raised his omni-tool toward them and projected the Spectre identification straight into their omni-tools.
There was a pregnant pause, as the Illium Security personnel read out the ID, then scrambled in agitation as they spoke hurriedly to each other.
The asari Eclipse commander muttered a curse as she looked up at Marcus with anger and fear.
"You're that guy, aren't you?" she growled, her body language instantly showing the change in her tune.
"I think you and I need to have a little chat," he said.
The asari clenched her teeth.
"Look, I was just following orders, alright?!" she spoke vehemently.
"Not my concern," he replied coldly. "My concern is why were the Eclipse here, attacking us in this number, and who ordered it."
"Look, we didn't know there was a Spectre here," she said defensively. "Our orders were to get the girl alive." She motioned with her chin at Liara. "We were supposed to deliver her to her mother after that."
"We killed over two dozen men, and destroyed a dozen mechs," Jaina commented as she stepped up next to Marcus and looked down at the woman. "That's a lot of manpower for one girl."
The asari signed. "We received info that she had a well-armed escort, seven in total, not including her, and that there was a krogan among them. We needed to disable you without hurting her." She shook her head. "Those damn morons never mentioned anything about who you actually were or what you were capable of. That's what you get when your eyes and ears are a third party."
"Elaborate!" Marcus demanded brusquely.
"The kid's mother was the one who provided for the third party people that would keep an eye out for the girl to show up. They tracked, and we were the muscle. Sederis is gonna be pissed at Benezia, alright. No telling what the crazy bitch will do now."
Marcus and Jaina shared a look.
"Jona Sederis?" Marcus asked.
The asari shrugged. "The big boss, yeah," she said. "Benezia paid well for all of this, but not well enough as it stands."
"Would Sederis know where Benezia is?" Jaina asked.
"Doubt it," she shook her head. "I was there when the deal was made. It was via comm link. Benezia never showed up in person. Good riddance, if you ask me; she creeps me out the way she dresses and talks. Even if Sederis knew where you could find Benezia, I wouldn't count on her telling you. Everybody knows how unpredictable she can be."
"That's an understatement," the single salarian merc muttered from where he sat.
Jaina looked at Marcus. "I don't think Benezia would be stupid enough to leave open trails, but…" she trailed off as her gaze fell down at the asari that sat on the ground. "Can we really trust what she says?"
She was right, he knew. This was Illium, the headquarters of the Eclipse; the asari and her friends would walk out jail-free as long as she survived this. All she needed was to spin a convincing enough story for him to buy it, and there was no way he'd be able to confirm if any of it was true. Except…
He cocked his head as something tingled in beneath the back of his mind as he looked down at the merc leader. Something was telling him that if he was to just… if he was to just…
He unclasped and stowed his helm away, gazing down at the asari with a cold glare. He began to remove his gauntlets slowly, pointedly, making all five of the mercs pay close attention to the slow baring of his hands. He hooked the gauntlets on his belt and moved to crouch down, bringing himself to the sitting asari's height. He slowly brought his bare hand to the wide-eyed asari's face, laying his fingers on the side her jaw and gently cupping it with his thumb. He heard her audible gulp, and could almost sense the unease of the other mercs. In truth, they were radiating it!
He could feel what he was looking for, right there in the center of his mind. If he could just… attune to it in the way that he felt he should…
"My XO is right," Marcus said with an eerily calm voice as he gazed deep into the merc's eyes. "How do I know that you weren't lying to me?"
"Look, man," asari spoke with a quivering voice. "I don't know anything, alright? All I know is that the girl's mother wanted us to capture her and bring her in."
There it is – Marcus thought as an unmistakable sensation surged right into the pads of his fingers and his palm. The asari was telling the truth.
"Are you sure?" he continued menacingly, "that it is all that you know?"
Something else surged through his palm, and it was almost like a quick flurry of murky images flashed in the back of his head. Somehow he knew, he just knew that those murky images were coming from the asari.
"It is, I swear!" the woman replied. "Everything that I've told you earlier is true!"
"Think hard, then: have you missed some vital info that you should have told me?" he asked as he stroked her cheek with his thumb gently. Her dread and unease were amazingly palpable and clear on his fingertips. It was as if he was reading her like an open book!
"I've told you everything I know," she said, almost squeezing it through her teeth. "And it was the truth!"
He just looked at her for a few more seconds, letting those flashes of impressions and images he was picking up from her swirl through the back of his head. He then stood up and stepped away from her, breaking the contact and rubbing the fingers of his hand together unconsciously. The moment he had released her, both the images and the sensations he felt from her receded, and he processed and filed it down for the future.
He looked to the sidelines then, where Illium Security had made a broad perimeter with half a dozen cars and was watching them warily.
"You two," he motioned at the pair of Illium Security officers, then nodded toward the mercs. "Watch them."
The two asari officers looked to each other uneasily and stepped up reluctantly as Marcus moved several paces away to gather his team, where they could talk without being overheard.
"Daymn, Skipper," Ashley spoke with a lopsided grin, "Where'd ya learn to interrogate people like that? The woman almost crapped herself."
"You don't usually take that approach to interrogation," Jaina noted with a smirk, recognizing all he did as an act.
"It sure was impressive crazy cop routine, though," Garrus complemented.
"You mean the good cop – bad cop?" Ashley asked.
"Hmm, yeah, except that this was a variation of it: sane cop – murderous lunatic cop," Garrus clarified, then looked at Marcus. "From a professional cop's point of view, I think that she was not lying."
"I'm sure of that, as well," Marcus said as he refastened his gauntlets. "I believe that it wouldn't pay off to pursue Jona Sederis for any kind of info she might have."
"Yeah, based on the N7 headquarters profiles, Jona Sederis is depicted as unpredictable, conniving and non-cooperative," Jaina said, then shook her head. "Any info she would give might very well be a wild goose chase."
"Agreed," Marcus nodded. "We'll just have to rely on our own network that we had set up, and hope it digs up something."
"What I would want to know is what the heck was that deal with that Shadow Broker's agent that contacted us earlier," Kaidan groused.
"They might not have been a Shadow Broker agent at all," Garrus ventured. "They might have been Eclipse imposters or the third party that did the monitoring on their behalf, stalling for time so that their teams get there."
"Maybe," Wrex offered. "But that woman did all the typical steps a Shadow Broker agent does. I should know; I did a lot of work for him."
"How do you know it's a 'he'?" Jaina asked, raising her eyebrow.
"I just do," Wrex said. "It's the little things, clues that you pick up. I'll talk about it later if you're so interested."
"Fair enough," Jaina said. "So, do you think this was a real Shadow Broker agent?"
"I believe so," Wrex said as he shifted on his feet. "And I think I know what the Shadow Broker was trying to do. He knew the Eclipse was sending a whole platoon against us, supported by mechs. He didn't think we'd live through this; no average group of mercs in our place would. He wanted to cash in some quick money by convincing us to buy quickly and cheaply while threatening that he'd raise the price if we didn't. After the Eclipse ambushed and killed us all, the information would be dead with us, which meant that he could sell it again. He would lose nothing; only gain easy money."
"That son of a bitch!" Ashley spoke incredulously.
"Cutthroat entrepreneurship, Chief," Marcus spoke grimly. "We now know how far we can trust him."
A wave of angry mutters showed their agreement with him.
"Spectre Shepard," a woman's voice suddenly came from the side.
The entire group turned and saw an asari wearing a business pant suit, standing a few paces out. She had a clear air of a high-ranking policewoman.
Marcus approached her. "And you are?" he asked.
"Captain Erezia T'Varos, Illium Security, in charge of the precinct overseeing this district," she said.
"Captain," Marcus said, then looked around with a grim frown at the carnage that was the building's lobby, shattered windows, and the plaza in front of it. "Sorry about the mess."
Captain T'Varos looked around, taking in the damages, then looked back at him.
"Would you mind explaining what happened here?" she asked neutrally.
"One of my squad specialists owns an apartment in this building – Doctor Liara T'Soni," he said, turning to look at Liara, who nodded back. "We came to Nos Astra to do business – the non-violent kind of business – and regrouped here before we were to return to our ship and leave Illium. For some reason, the Eclipse decided they wanted to try to ambush us as we were leaving the building. I am sure that there will be plenty of security cameras around the block that will confirm this."
The Captain made a sideways nod with a raised eyebrow.
"Naturally there are," she said in the affirmative. "But with that settled, mine and my superiors' biggest concern is whether you will want to pursue this incident with the Eclipse any further. Eclipse is a legitimate mercenary organization, and we cannot move against them, and neither would we like if there was an all-out war between you two; we wish to maintain peace and security."
"My quarrel with them never existed as far as I am concerned," he said. "It is them you should ask that question. But I am leaving Illium, now."
The asari captain visibly relaxed, and then smiled. "I am glad to hear that, Commander," she said with a nod. "Everyone here will be relieved to hear it as well."
Marcus looked sideways to the police officers that were now securing the area, noticing their consternated looks directed his way.
"I do seem to notice odd looks directed my way," he commented. "I may have been a Spectre a short while, but those are not exactly the looks I'd have expected – even on Illium."
"Your reputation is spreading, Commander," T'Varos said. "You may not be aware, but your execution of that human corporate CEO a few days ago has leaked onto the extranet despite Citadel censure, especially here in the gray zone of Illium. Everybody has seen what you've done, and you might see how a planet such as this, which relies on corporate businesses to prosper, becomes very agitated when someone like you would drop in unannounced."
"Hmm," he mused, then nodded. "Good bye, Captain."
He motioned for his people to follow him, and they promptly left the taped-off area, walking toward the cab terminal. They picked up two cars and, as they settled in, Marcus turned toward Liara, who was sitting in the back seat with Tali.
"You alright?" he asked. "You've had a rough biotic drain there."
Liara grinned. "I'm fine, Commander. That nutrient cocktail injection is amazing!"
"Hm. Glad to hear," he said. "How have the artifacts fared?"
Liara opened the bag and pulled out the mirror orb. It seemed to still be in pristine condition.
"It's intact," she replied.
"Good," he said, then settled in as the car lifted off, and began navigating toward the nearest traffic lane. "Take us to our ship, Jaina."
"Aye-aye, sir," she smiled and gunned the throttle.
...
One hour later, the Normandy was leaving Illium high orbit at full throttle, straight on the way toward mass relay, and the ground team had gathered in the comm room without waiting to remove their gear.
"Everyone settled in?" Marcus asked as he stood in front of the comm console, then nodded when everyone nodded, their heads turned toward him.
"Alright… here's how the situation stands," he started. "The previous two weeks have been one hectic hurricane of activity; to some more than to others. Eden Prime, hunt for clues against Saren, Feros, Luna, and now Illium."
"Goddess," Liara muttered as she looked around at everyone. "Has it really been a mere two weeks?"
"Seems more like months to me," Kaidan spoke up as he leaned with his left elbow against one knee and with his palm against the other.
"Tell me about it," Ashley commented, then leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. "I've lost my entire squad and I'm actually grateful for all this activity. It shifted my mind off of… thinking of it."
Kaidan reached out and placed a firm hand of support against her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry about me, Lt," Ashley grinned. "Kicking Saren in the nuts makes everything feel it's worth it."
"Yeah, but the trail has gone cold now," Garrus commented annoyedly. "I just wish we knew what the bastard was up to."
"That's why we've set up those feelers through Liara's contacts," Jaina said with a shrug. "Many of them are well acquainted with Benezia and share many contacts. Some of them might ferret out where she is or what she plans."
"But will they cooperate?" Wrex rumbled, then spoke to Liara, "If they were your mother's friends, they might betray you to her, instead."
"Which only works in our favor," Liara retorted, smiling. "Our goal is to find Benezia. If my contacts betray me and send me into an ambush, then we will just fight our way through, and get to her that way. They might stall and provide misinformation on Benezia's behalf, but they can only stall so far. Sooner or later, anyone would blunder and provide a key piece of information, and if they reveal themselves, we will question them."
"Hmm," Wrex rumbled, then nodded. "Clever. Was never a fan of putting myself out like a target like that, even though there were times, but – clever."
Kaidan chose the moment to speak up:
"You know, this whole thing with intel on Saren – it makes me wonder how is it possible that the Council cannot find anything on him. They're supposed to be using STG teams. I mean, am I the only one who finds this strange?"
"I don't," Marcus rumbled, making people turn their heads toward him. "Saren attacked Eden Prime by making an advance through Argus Rho and Hades Beta primary relays, and he did that by disabling STG listening posts with his Spectre codes. Garrus, how many times was it that you found that Saren used his Spectre codes to manipulate the listening posts throughout the Traverse during the year? Forty times?"
"Something like that, yeah," the turian nodded grimly. "And that was only recently."
"Who knows what other ventures he might have set up long before that," Jaina added. "It might even be something that was made decades ago. Saren is not exactly young; he had had plenty of time."
"Huh. And here I thought this whole thing would be easy," Kaidan muttered.
That brought a round of chuckles.
"Well, like I said, that's why we needed to try everything we could with this intel net," Marcus said.
"Shepard," Liara spoke up then, "there is still the matter of these artifacts you asked me to bring from my apartment."
She opened up the bag and removed the orb from it.
"You seem to be pretty interested in those things," Jaina commented as she looked at the shiny orb, then looked back at him. "And you don't usually do things just for the heck of it. What did you want to do with them?"
Marcus stepped up to Liara and picked up the orb, hefting it in front of him, and showing it around.
"This was a memory device the Protheans used," he said.
There was a moment of silence.
"How do you know?" Garrus asked.
"The Cipher," Liara guessed, her eyes lighting up. "It was more than just a tool to decipher the images from the Beacon. Its true potential was much, much greater than that – I have felt it when we melded. The Thorian had absorbed memories of countless Protheans, and he might have very well transferred them to you, Shepard."
"But how would you activate it?" Tali asked as he stepped up from her seat and made a quick scan of the orb, then looked at the data. "I'm not picking up anything on it that could be a control surface, data port – nothing! Are you sure it's a memory device?"
Marcus just silently looked at the orb in his hands, as if concentrating on it. And then suddenly, the orb's surface rippled like quicksilver for a moment, making everyone step back in alertness.
Just as soon as it began, it stopped, with Marcus yanking his head sideways in pain, shaking it, and pressing his thumb where nose met brow ridge.
"Whoa there, big guy," Jaina spoke up in concern as she stepped up to him, holding him by the plexus.
"Are you alright, Shepard?" Liara asked from the other side just as concernedly.
"Yeah," he said as he lowered his thumb from his brow and looked at the orb. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"What just happened?" Kaidan queried.
Marcus smirked, rising the orb for emphasis.
"It's a memory device, alright," he said. "It works like a beacon – sending images into your mind. I have activated it for a moment."
"I never realized," Liara murmured as she looked at the orb, eyes wide amazement and mere inches away from the mirror-like surface. "I've owned that orb for decades, and I never suspected it was anything more than a piece of art."
"I think it may be using your body's electrical charge to power itself," Tali said in wonder as she scanned the object. "It does show some residual energy patterns, now. How did you activate it?"
"I can't explain it," he said with a shake of his head. "But I think I might be able to reproduce it again."
"As your XO, I strongly advise against it at this moment," Jaina said in a voice that practically brooked no argument. "We are not in combat, and we have the time. If we will be doing research on these devices that seem to play with your head, then it will be done under Doctor Chakwas's supervision."
"Very well, XO," Marcus smirked and nodded. "I will heed your advice. We should all rest up a bit now."
There was a chime.
"This is Shepard," Marcus said after he tapped the incoming comm.
"Sorry to bother you, Commander," Pressly's voice came through, "but both Adams and Lansky down at the cargo hold are complaining about the cargo you've procured on Illium. With the second Mako we picked up on Earth and the two Tritons, things are beginning to feel a bit crowded down there."
"Understood, Pressly," Marcus said. "I'll get down on it… as soon as my XO allows me to," he added pointedly, looking at his wife with a smile.
Jaina looked back up at him, with a narrow-eyed tight-lipped smile, crossed her arms, and said, "I'll allow it."
"I'll let them know, Commander," the Navigator said. "Pressly out!"
"Garrus, Tali," Marcus called. "Feel like putting a few your technical skills at work modifying some combat vehicles?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" Tali lilted wistfully.
"Ready and eager, Shepard," Garrus nodded.
"Count me in, too," Wrex spoke up as he stepped up. "You're making guns? I want to make guns."
"Good," Tali quipped. "I could use a crane."
Wrex's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before narrowing down at her.
"Kaidan?" Marcus invited him.
"Sure thing, Sheppard," the man replied.
"Ugh," Ashley grunted in mock exasperation. "Come on, girls. Let's leave boys to their toys."
"Ahem!" Tali coughed pointedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Ash said, grinning mischievously as she stepped up to her, yanked the top of her cowl downward a bit to distract her, then grabbed her helmeted chin and smacked a theatrical kiss on the thoroughly and cutely confused Tali's cheek. "We love you too Tali-girl, but we're calling dibs on later girl bonding time."
"R-r-right," the bashful quarian stammered. "I-I'm gonna… go," and she promptly fled the room.
Oh, I'm so gonna tease her, Ashley mouthed eagerly to an amused Jaina who gave her a good-natured warning look.
Oh, fine, Ash mouthed and followed the rest of the people as they began to file out of the comm room, and Marcus threw another look at the Prothean orb Liara was carrying before Jaina caught him.
"Mako. Now!" she said pointedly, reaching out with her hand to his cheek and turning his head away from the orb. She crossed her arms as she looked at him step away, and shook her head. "Honestly…!"
Marcus descended down the elevator with the rest of his impromptu skunkworks team. Despite Jaina's words, the Prothean memory device was still in his mind; or rather, what was in it. As they stepped out of the elevator, he remembered the short glimpse he had. It was nothing but a rough preview of what was inside, but it was clear as day as to what he had seen: a design for a Prothean particle-based weapon. He shook his head at the sheer luck of having this kind of find sitting at Liara's apartment. If worst came to worst, and the Reapers came, then they would need every bit of advantage they could get.
He turned his attention back into the cargo hold and looked across the crowded mess of newly delivered parts, where Tali, Garrus, Kaidan, and Wrex were already swarming over them.
They were going to make this work, he decided.
...
...
ON ANOTHER NOTE,
I've just seen additional info on ME: Andromeda's main battle tank – I mean krogan, Drack. It says he's well over 1400 years old. Ok, if they had decided to make it so, I guess I can't argue… except that I had grown up next to the original ME1 Codex that says Krogan live a bit over 1000 years, which in that context appeared as though they meant 'far less' than 1500. I figured it'd be like 1200 at most and that a krogan that old, like Okeer, would be basically a geezer, not a main battle tankrogan.
That's why I made Wrex in this story a bit 'younger' so to speak, at some 500-600 years so that he is only in krogan middle-age, equivalent to what Zaeed or Hackett are for humans (Hackett's actually 49 in ME1). Originally, Janizary pointed this out to me that Wrex might be too young in my book, so I'm asking you for your thoughts on krogan age in general and whether there'd be a point for a krogan to be well over a thousand years old and still kicking ass. PM me, and we can talk!
On Another Another note,
I've seen the recent Andromeda weapons and skills video and saw that there will be gigantic krogan melee hammers that Ryder can use in battle. I hereby publically declare my dislike of that. An omniblade, a ka-bar knife, even a sword would be okay. But gigantic krogan melee hammer in a futuristic combat? I just don't know…
Aaand on another, etc, etc, note:
158 reviews, 236 favs, and 281 follows for 156-k words so far! Nice :-)
But that's not enough! I declare now, that I shall not rest or find peace until this story of mine has at least THRICE as many revs, favs, and folls! I swear it on my trusted omniblade and M-71 Revenant! Now, who's with me?!