Chapter 14: Why Do They Always Fight?
Sarah, Mordin, and Jack stepped out of the skycar and saw Barla Von arguing with Detective Enyala. As the Commander walked forward, she said, "Barla Von may not be guilty of murdering his partner, but he has been dealing Minagen X3 to the Eclipse. You might want to look into that." before walking towards the crime scene line.
Enyala said, "Ma'am, you can't go back there."
"Zombie Spectre." Sarah said, walking through the line, only for two officers to try and tackle her. Only to find themselves on the ground a split second later, trying to recover their breath.
Enyala said, "You are under arrest, Ma'am!"
Sarah turned around, looked Enyala in the eye, and said, "Do you really want to try to arrest the Savior of the Citadel?"
Enyala blushed- her skin turning a slightly darker shade of blue- and stammered out, "I'm sorry Commander. Is there anything I can get you?"
Sarah laughed, and said, "You're smarter than most. Usually people try to take me down and find themselves dead a few seconds later. As to your question, I could use something to drink. Some cream soda, coffee, or water. Whichever one is the easiest to get."
"Uh," Enyala said, "okay." walking away.
Jack laughed, and said, "Fuck, Shepard. Feeling more like messing with people now?"
Shepard chuckled and said, "Not really. I just really don't like corrupt cops."
"I thought Enyala was clean." Jack said.
"So did I. But, when I quickly dropped by here to check if Oriana was okay during the reaper invasion I learned about Enyala being suspended due to helping that Eclipse merc we didn't kill escape to Bekenstein."
Mordin, who had been listening in silence, asked, "What are you talking about, Shepard? I do not recall your involvement with Detective Enyala."
"It's complicated, Mordin." Sarah replied.
"Modified genophage. Can understand complicated matters." the salarian replied.
Sarah sighed, and said, "I'll tell you about it later. We've got Eclipse around this corner."
As the group pulled out their firearms, they heard an asari say, "What did you say?"
"Nothing, ma'am." a second said, as Shepard peaked her head around the corner. She quickly lined up a shot with her Mattock rifle, and fired three rounds into the first asari's head. The first two were blocked by her barriers, and the third pierced through it, and flew through her head.
The asari collapsed to the ground, as the other three Eclipse mercs and three mechs turned towards them. Shepard said, "Jack, singularity between the mechs and asari!"
"Got it!" Jack said, her body being surrounded by blue biotic flames as she used the dark-energy to create a micro-black hole, which pulled all three mechs and a single asari into the air. Mordin fired an incineration blast into one of the still mobile asari. As the asari started struggling to remove the flames, three rounds pierced her skull. She collapsed, as Shepard and Jack threw grenades into the singularity. As the explosives detonated, the biotic pulse in Jack's grenade caused the singularity to destabilize, resulting in a biotic explosion, tearing the remaining enemies apart. Shepard looked at the corpses, and said, "We may have gone a bit overboard there, Jack."
"Who the fuck cares." the convict replied, walking towards the room where Samara was.
"Careful. Don't want to piss her off." Shepard said to Jack, taking point.
"I'll be fine, Shepard." Jack replied.
"It's better to not piss of Justicars. Especially when you don't have them swearing to not kill you." Sarah said, opening the door to see Samara pinning an Eclipse merc to the ground with a single foot. The Justicar said, "Tell me the name of the ship she left on."
"She could do so much worse to me than anything you can. So, do your worst, Justicar!" the merc said.
"Very well. Know peace in the embrace of the goddess." Samara replied, crushing the mercs neck. She turned and saw Shepard, Jack, and Mordin. "Are you here to interfere in my search?"
Shepard chuckled, and said, "Not exactly. I'm here to offer you a job on my ship to help save billions of lives."
"Even if I were interested, I am currently hunting an incredibly dangerous individual. If I do not find her soon, she could get away with hundreds, if not thousands, of murders."
"I can help you track her down." Shepard replied, "But, I'll need your help in exchange."
"And why would I help you with your mission? I know nothing of you."
"I'm pretty sure that you know at least a little bit about me." she said, "I've done a few noteworthy things in my time. And, I'm going to do even more before I die. Well, die again."
"Who are you, human?"
"You can call me Shepard. I was with the Alliance until I was killed in action. Though, you probably would know me better as the first human Spectre and the Savior of the Citadel."
"Then perhaps I could assist you, if you help me. Ordinary humans rarely undertake any mission of any import. From what I have seen of your people's history. What is your mission?"
"Go through the Omega 4 relay, kill every last Collector on the other side, save as many colonists as possible, and come back without losing a single member of the crew. Last time I tried it, didn't go as well."
"What last time?" Mordin asked.
"Let's just say I went in, lost my girlfriend, and then a lot of other shit went down and I went on another suicide mission, solo that time, and ended up not getting blown to bits. Instead, got a dumbass glowing eight year old telling me that I had to do one of three incredibly monstrous things."
"What did you do, Shepard?" Samara asked, watching the Commander with curiosity.
"I shot a key component which led to a malfunction in the system. Led to a slightly better result."
-=0=
The Catalyst stepped up to Udina, and said, "I have need of your services. You will do as you are told, if you wish to survive."
"Who are you?" Udina asked, reaching for the silent alarm.
"I am the Citadel." it replied, "Your alarm will not reach Citadel Security. I have disabled it."
As Udina pressed the button, he asked, "What is it you want from me?"
"I am aware of your connections to several low-key but skilled mercenary groups that specialize in capture and abduction. I require their services. And, you to use your Alliance connections to begin the production of a specific device."
"What is in it for me?"
"You shall be raised above the Citadel Council in exchange for the simple task."
"What would that task be?"
"Have the designs I will be showing you soon built, and have your contacts abduct a specific individual. I will go into more detail once you agree to assist me."
"I'm in." Udina said.
"Excellent," the Catalyst said with a slight smirk on its face, "you will have them target Miranda Lawson. She is a member of Shepard's crew. They are currently on Illium, but will be leaving within a couple of days. Send them to abduct her. Have the device constructed as rapidly as possible. It is a key to the survival of the mass relay network. Otherwise, the element zero that the relays use will become unstable, and it will lead to them being destroyed when vessels attempt to use them."
"Then how will this device fix it?"
"It will send out an energy pulse which will restore the element zero."
"What do we need Shepard's crew member for?"
"We need a bargaining chip with Shepard. She has a key part of the device, but does not want to give it. So, we will give her a choice. She gives us what we need, or Lawson dies."
"Why wouldn't she?"
"She and I do not see eye to eye on certain other aspects of what the device will do."
Udina nodded, and asked, "Where is the device's schematics?"
"I have arranged for it to be discovered in a database by a group of scientists studying this station. In two days time."
-=0=-
Sarah stepped into the elevator leading to the Eclipse base, and said, "Remember, kill anything that moves and isn't one of us or a volus."
"Understood." Mordin said.
"Also, avoid the red stuff. It makes biotics more powerful, but for regular people it makes you see things that aren't really there. And not pleasant shit either."
"We don't need you to hold our fucking hands, Shepard." Jack said.
"Just doing what any CO does pre-op."
"Bore the living shit out of their troops?"
"Making sure the team is prepared for what they'll be facing. Also, if I don't notice when the gunship shows up, point that out to me. I've got a bit different strategy for taking it out this time."
"Care to share the details?"
"That would spoil the surprise." Sarah said, grinning. "But I'll tell you that you'd never be able to predict it."
"You're going to jump onto it, get in, killing both of them, and take it for a spin?"
"That's pedestrian compared to what I've got planned." Sarah replied, as the doors opened. The Commander pulled out her mattock rifle, and opened fire on the Eclipse guarding the door. After the ten rounds from Shepard's rifle hit the alien, the Commander tossed a grenade through the next door, destroying a pair of mechs and sending a pair of Eclipse mercs flying.
-=0=-
Miranda was typing at her terminal, when she saw a message. It said, "'Randa, I could use a hand. Could you meet me at Eternity in Nos Astra in a couple hours?"
Miranda replied, "Of course. What's the issue, Ori?"
"I kinda made a mistake and I need your help to fix it?"
"What happened? Did someone find out about your new job?"
"No, it wasn't that. I'll tell you more when I meet up with you."
"Why are you so secretive about this, Ori?"
"No communications are secure enough to make sure that this doesn't get into the wrong hands."
"Fine. I'll be there."
"Thanks, 'Randa!"
"No problem, Ori." Miranda replied.
-=0=-
The Catalsyt said, "I have set my plan into motion. Give me a couple months, and we will have achieved synthesis."
"Excellent." a Leviathan said, "But be certain that Shepard will not cause trouble."
"It will not be an issue." the Catalyst said, "I have several individuals working to make sure that Shepard will do as we say."
"Good. If she does not, it would appear that your usefulness has come to an end."
"If you destroy me, who would control the reapers for you?"
"We already have a solution in place. Just in case your performance should become unacceptable."
-=0=-
Shepard ducked beneath a warp sent her way by an Eclipse merc, and was about to fire on her, when she saw Jack drop down from a walkway above her, and land on the merc, sending a biotic shockwave into her victim. As a second merc tried to stab Jack with an omni-blade, the convict turned around, and kicked her right in the gut, before Mordin ignited her with an incineration blast. As the mercenary burned, Sarah said, "Nice." before knocking the legs out from underneath another, merc, and before the asari hit the ground, Shepard had an omni-blade out, and stabbed into her heart.
Jack said, "Ever notice that people are using those more now than before?"
"Yeah. At least it means people will be more used to them when the reapers show up. One of the best ways to take out husks."
"Fuck yeah." Jack said, as they stepped through a door, and saw Elnora.
The asari said, "I didn't actually shoot at you! I just pretended to while the others were so they wouldn't shoot me if they somehow managed to beat you! I don't have any stupid ideas about beating a Spectre."
"Well that's nice." Sarah said, "Too bad I have to kill you because I know that you killed Pitne For's partner. You really shouldn't leave stuff bragging about murders just lying around where anyone could find them."
"Please don't kill me! I just wanted to be one of the Eclipse! Going around fighting bad guys and the like! But all they do is go around selling and doing red sand."
"You didn't catch on that maybe the people who require you to commit a murder before they let you join might not be very good people? You had to realize that they were just drug addicts and dealers to figure that one out?"
"What can I say, I tend to romanticize things." the asari said.
"There's a difference between romanticizing things, and being a fucking moron." Jack said.
"Why are you all judging me for killing one volus, when you just killed dozens of people who had centuries left to live!"
"They were trying to kill us." Sarah said. "So, it was technically self-defense. And, even if that doesn't count with you, I'm a Spectre on a mission to save the galaxy and they were in the way. Pitne's partner was just someone who had a few questionable business practices. Not exactly the same thing as shooting murderers."
"You have a point, I suppose." Elnora said. "Are you really going to kill me?"
Sarah was silent, then said, "Of course." as she fired three rounds from her pistol into the asari's head.
-=0=-
A/N: This chapter's over because I just can't get anything written for this chapter. I just find the Illium missions incredibly boring to write. I enjoyed playing them, but don't enjoy writing them. I promise you that the next one will be longer, and probably entirely original content.