A/N: As you can see this chapter is fairly lengthy. I got rather carried away and wanted to have the security measures dealt with in one chapter.

Heisting 101

Chapter 3 - Peeling Away The Layers

As Sophie steps into the ballroom the first thing she notices is that no expense has been spared with the decoration and furniture. There are two spiral staircases which are cordoned off by velvet rope, several Eclipse mercs can be seen patrolling near the upstairs railings. A large fountain takes pride of place in the centre and people are dotted around it, including Donovan Hock, a wine glass in hand as he mingles with a group of guests. There's also several walls covered with priceless pieces of art. At the back of the room there's an outside balcony area with a breath-taking view of Bekenstien.

Shepard wastes no time in heading to the back of the room where she finds a pair of asari sat on a couch on either side of a human man who appears to be enjoying their company a little too much. Sitting on the couch to the right of them she peers over her shoulder to spot a small corridor below, looking left and right she spots a staircase at either end. "Well, we've found our vault." points out Kasumi over the comm, appearing from her cloak to enter through a door Sophie can't see. The thief paces slightly as she examines the different security measures. Sophie catches up and Kasumi starts speaking. "There's more here than I expected. Password protected voice lock. Kinetic barrier. DNA scanner - - Looks like an EX-700 series. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable."

"This gonna be a problem?" asks Shepard.

"Please. Remember who you're talking to." is the boastful remark. "For the voice lock we'll need a sample of Hock's voice. So get him talking and I'll record it. We'll need a password too. There should be plenty of DNA in his quarters. And the barrier? Cut the power, never fails…if we can find it. Keiji could crack a system like this in his sleep. And I'm better." As Sophie turns to leave her omni-tool chimes and Kasumi continues to speak "Your omni-tool can now detect the electrical current running through the wiring underneath the floor, follow it and we should find a power supply."

Sophie exits the small room and heads up the right side stairs, following the wiring that is being shown to her. She walks past a group of mingling guests and a human female voice causes her pause. "Did you hear that Commander Shepard was sighted on Omega?"

A male human in the group responds "She's dead, so I doubt it was her. I hope it wasn't. The less people like her in the galaxy the better." As Sophie continues to follow the wiring, her fist clenches tightly as she hears the sound of wine glasses being tapped together in toast followed by a resounding "Here, Here!"

It doesn't take long for the Spectre to reach the end of the wiring; her omni-tool shows the power supply hidden away behind the wall. Kasumi appears from her cloak and reaches for a small statuette in an alcove; she pulls it toward her and a section of wall slides away to reveal the power supply. She wastes no time in overloading it. "A disguised lever is one of the oldest tricks in the book." comments the thief, smirking before cloaking again. She continues over Sophie's comm."I saw a locked door when we came in; I'm betting it's a security office."

Shepard looks around the room, spotting a circular door near where they had first entered the ballroom. Heading toward it she begins to make out the orange display indicating that it's locked. "This is it. Here, allow me." remarks Kasumi as she waves her omni-tool over the display which turns green shortly after. As the door opens it leads to a short corridor with another circular door at the end, this one's display is green. Reaching the second door, Sophie takes cover on the left of the door while Kasumi opens it and immediately cloaks. The two guards inside, who appear to have been on break turn to the sound of the opening door. They don't have time to react as the petite thief appears behind one of them; a deadly orange blade springs to life from her omni-tool, which she plunges into the guard's back. Sophie rounds the corner, drawing her Carnifex and placing a single shot through the second guard's visor.

"So what're we looking for?" asks Sophie as she enters the small room, stepping over the corpse of the guard Kasumi stabbed.

"A datapad, a terminal, anything that would contain communications between guards." Kasumi picks up a datapad on the desk near her and looks it over "Got it. The password's Peruggia. It also mentions a Chief Roe, could come in handy." She puts the datapad down and continues. "Might be a good time to get that voice sample as it's only useful when spoken by Hock." Sophie exits the first door they came through and makes her way toward Hock who's still mingling around the fountain. "Just get him talking, I'll do the rest."

Hock sees Sophie coming and steps toward her. The group he was with disperses to other parts of the ballroom. "Ms Gunn. Good to see you. That scene at the door hasn't soured your evening I hope." He extends his hand toward the woman in front of him.

Sophie shakes the man's hand, albeit reluctantly, her arms then fold and she studies Hock before she speaks "I understand the security, but who would try and break into the great Donovan Hock's home?" she starts, the compliment is forced but Hock doesn't seem to notice.

Hock drinks from his wine before continuing. "Gunn, in our line of work we attract a certain kind of element. Few understand the pains we take to keep the barbarians at bay." He turns toward the fountain and spreads his arms wide. "People these days want comfort, entertainment, love. They don't see that the galaxy is fragile." People around the ballroom are starting to take notice as Hock turns to face Sophie again. "They only have to worry about simple luxuries. Why? Because people like me - - and you - - are doing the terrible things that keep the galaxy spinning. This party is for us. The cleaners. The support structure for the galaxy's gleeful delusions of peace." He sips from the wine again, his arms spreading once more. "Let there always be a market for the things we do." The room explodes into thunderous applause.

Kasumi's voice sounds over Sophie's comm "I said get him talking and you got him talking. We've got enough of a sample now. Let him go. We just need the DNA now."

Heading back toward the vault Sophie spots another circular door, this one has an Eclipse merc stood in front of it. She approaches and the man's hands rise defensively "Mr Hock's private rooms are off limits to guests without security clearance."

"I have clearance." states Shepard confidently.

"Oh yeah? On whose authority?" challenges the guard, pointing his finger at her.

Kasumi's voice sounds in Shepard's ear "Tell him Chief Roe. I have an idea."

"Chief Roe gave me permission."

"We'll see." The guard raises his wrist slightly, speaking into the device there. "Chief Roe. It's Samuels, I have a guest here claiming she has access to Mr Hock's private rooms."

There's a pause as Samuels waits for a reply, around the corner however a de-cloaked Kasumi speaks into her omni tool, her voice disguised to sound like Chief Roe's. "Dammit Samuels, of course I gave them clearance, now stop bothering me."

"Uh, yes ma'am, sorry." is the panicked reply as he ends the communication. "Go on in then." he adds, opening the door.

Heading up a flight of stairs it doesn't take long for the two women to locate Hock's massive bedroom. A king sized bed is the centrepiece of the room. There's a small coffee table which has several wine glasses on it, a scattered pile of papers, and an ashtray with several cigarette butts in it, several arm chairs face toward a large bay window. Stepping further into the room a wide desk with a terminal on it catches Kasumi's attention, she reaches it and picks up a datapad from its perch on a pile of hastily stacked paper. "According to this Hock was making little progress in decrypting Keiji's greybox."

Sophie meanwhile is over by the coffee table scanning for DNA. Her omni-tool picks some up from the wineglasses and cigarette butts. "How much DNA is enough to fool the scanner?"

"More than the tiny amounts that is on cigarette butts and wine glasses." Is the reply as Kasumi puts the datapad down and heads over to the bed to scan it. "There's some here, although I expected more. Whoever cleans this room is thorough." The thief heads for the door. "Alright, that should be enough. Let's go." Sophie moves to join Kasumi and they both leave the room.