Chapter 5

Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves

Vent shafts are, with very few exceptions, not very hospitable locations. Typically, they are very narrow, either far too cold or hot depending on the needs of the building tenants, and are definitely not designed for people to go crawling around inside of them.

As Finn crawled after the two quarian thieves, his mind was racing. Who were they? He guessed they weren't working with the woman who had sprung him from his cell, but that just made the matter even more complicated. Why were both parties after the Creator's Tear?

More importantly, what did this mean for him and his team? In the old days, he wouldn't have spared it a thought, but they were his team, his friends. His actions could have adverse affects on them, and he didn't like that thought one bit. Whatever happened, he needed to make sure they weren't blamed for whatever was going on.

"Hey." Whispered the quarian in the purple suit. "You still back there?"

"Yeah." He whispered back. "Just thinking. Who are you people anyway?"

"Archaeologists."

Finn had to stifle a laugh. "Really."

"Yeah, really. The Creator's Tear is a quarian artifact; we're simply bringing it back home."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Whispered Finn's mysterious benefactor.

The purple quarian continued, "It's one of thousands of artifacts from the days when quarians roamed the stars. The galaxy traded the history of my people as little more than knick-knacks. Our little company simply wishes to take back what is ours."

"Even if it's against the law?"

She chuckled. "You're one to talk after the stunt you pulled off with the Council. Is it true you once robbed the Blue Suns?"

Finn's cheeks went red, and not just from the cold air rushing through the vents. "I didn't think anyone outside Omega knew of that."

"They do now. Word is Massani's offering a million credits to whoever brings you in."

"Alive?"

"Two-million if alive."

An uncomfortable thought ran through Finn's head. "Is that why you're letting me tag along?"

She laughed again. "The Blue Suns can go suck a fat one, as far as I'm concerned. As for why I'm helping you … well, you can thank your friend Kyra for that."

"Kyra put you up to this?" Finn asked, surprised.

"Not exactly."

"Quiet!" Whispered the blue-suited quarian. She appeared to listen intently for a moment before saying, "We're clear. Turning right."

As the blue-suited quarian disappeared around the right corner, the purple-suited quarian said, "You can call me Violet, by the way."

"That doesn't sound very quarian." Finn said.

She shrugged, saying, "I guess not." Without another word, she turned the corner. As Finn followed, the bottom of the vent suddenly gave way to a steep slope. With a small yelp, he slid down the vent until something soft, warm and purple brought his momentum to a halt.

"Hey!"

His cheeks burning, Finn quickly backed away from Violet as much as he could, mumbling apologies.

"Just watch it, lover-boy." She teased. Turning back to her friend, Violet asked, "How much longer, Azure?"

The blue-suited quarian said, "Almost there." With a small spark, the vent cover she was working on fell away. She caught it deftly and set it gently inside the vent before slipping out of the opening.

"Okay." Azure told them. "We're clear."

One by one, they slipped out of the vent into what looked like a disused storeroom for a restaurant. Boxes and bags of various dry cooking goods filled the room in a more or less organized fashion.

Popping his back, Finn asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but how is the police department connected to this place?"

"The city's infrastructure runs on a massive interconnected set of vents; it helps regulate the city temperature. Kelruga's a bit closer to the surface than most settlements, so keeping everything cool's a bit more of an issue here."

"Makes sense." Finn reasoned. "Still, it seems weird that we didn't run into any kind of security measures."

"You're welcome." Azure told him.

Violet put her arm around Azure's shoulders. "Best hacker in the 'verse, as far as I'm concerned. We would've had the Creator's Tear if it hadn't been for-"

The door to the room began to open. Violet and Azure ducked behind several crates while Finn hid behind a stack of compressed cubes he guessed to be either sugar or flour.

"I'm tellin' ya." said a grumpy male voice as the door opened. "Everything's accounted for. I check it myself, every day!"

"Unimpressed; I will be the judge of that."

Three sets of footsteps entered the room, one making the typical shuffle Finn associated with the elcor. "Probably the business owner." Finn reasoned. There was something else, though; a very slight beeping sound just barely in Finn's hearing range. As the steps grew nearer Finn, the beeping intensified.

"Curious; what is this?"

"Ah, Jalapeno Salt. I import it straight from Earth. Nothing beats it for flavor, far as I'm concerned."

"Interesting." said another voice, this one female.

"Firm; indeed. Thank you, Mister Jecht; you may return to your duties."

"I … er, sure. Let me know if you need anything, boss."

As the man closed the door, Finn heard the elcor move toward him. "Amused; Jalapeno Salt. What will they think of next?"

Without warning, one massive elcor hand knocked into the stack, sending the compressed cubes falling on Finn. With a yelp, he leapt back, standing in the process.

Darsan and Mannon looked at him, the latter with an amused look on her face.

"Oh my." Mannon said, turning to Darsan. "Looks like we have a Jalapeno Salt thief on our hands."

"Amused; Indeed. I shall have to call the authorities."

"Darsan? Mannon?" Finn said, somewhere between disbelieving and completely caught off-guard. "What are you doing here?"

"Tracking you." Mannon tapped his hand, saying, "The Shadow Broker had a tracer implanted on you just in case this kind of thing happened."

"But the way that guy was talking …" Finn turned to Darsan, asking, "How did you trick him into thinking you were the owner?"

"Delighted; because I am the owner. Surely you didn't think that J-27 was my only business venture. I bought the Bowerstone Pub twenty years ago. It's returns are modest, but consistant. Truthfully; I honestly forgot I owned it until the Viceroy Spritzer; that was my idea too. When Jake detected you in the larder, I decided to take a more hands-on management approach."

Finn couldn't think of any other response than to laugh. "That's awesome. Where is Jake, anyway?"

"He's right …" Mannon glanced around, a frown forming on her face. "Huh. I guess he wandered off again."

Finn thought this odd, but then again, odd was Jake's middle name. Shaking his head, Finn said, "Well, I'm glad Darsan's business acumen has worked in our favor."

"With false modesty; I do my best. Curious; but what about you, Finn? How did you end up in my larder?"

"Oh, that was Violet and Azure here …" Finn said, motioning to where the quarians had hidden. "Come on out, you two; it's cool, these are my friends."

After a moment, Mannon walked over to the crates and peered behind them.

"There's no one back there." She told him.

"What?" Finn hurried over to the crates; sure enough, there was no sign of the quarian thieves.

Sighing, Finn muttered, "Great. There goes the Creator's Tear."

Alarmed, Mannon asked, "You brought that thing with you?"

"No, I …" Sighing, Finn said, "This is gonna take a few minutes."

"Resigned; I'm sure it will. Well, let's take it upstairs; you have to be hungry after how long they held you, and Kyra already ate your sandwich from earlier."

The Bowerstone Pub was almost empty. A glance out the front window showed Night was fast approaching.

The man Darsan had called 'Jecht' was tending bar. He gave Finn an odd glance as the group approached.

"Now where did you come from?" He asked Finn curiously.

"The stork, according to my mother." Finn replied a bit testily. "Any chance of another BLT?"

With a glance at Darsan, the man nodded and quickly walked to a set of double-doors Finn assumed led to the kitchen.

As the group sat at a table near the bar, Mannon said, "Okay, before you get started, I need to ask you something … and please don't get offended. Did you have something to do with the theft of the Creator's Tear?"

Flushing, Finn said, "No, Sherle, I didn't."

She stared at him for a moment before nodding. "That's good enough for me."

"Agreeing; and me. Now what happened in the station? Did they grill you?"

"Yeah." Finn replied. "Not that I can blame them. I told them the truth, but apparently the law works a bit differently on Ilium. After they threw me in a cell, I-"

The voice in my ear whispered, "Don't tell them about me."

"What?" Finn said, surprised. "Why not?"

"Finn?" Mannon asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Stop talking to me … and don't tell them about me. My family's made it a point to be the best thieves, not the most infamous. If you want my continued help, leave me out of your little story."

Now even Darsan was staring at him. "Worried; are you okay, Finn?"

Shaking his head, Finn said, "Sorry; just kind of zoned out there. Anyway, I managed to get out of my cell. As I was trying to find my way out, I ran into two quarians in old envirosuits. Turns out they were after the Creator's Tear."

"Do they have it?" asked Mannon.

"Yeah. It's in some kind of security box, but they managed to get it."

"Curious; how do you know the Creator's Tear is actually in the box."

Finn opened his mouth to respond when he realized he didn't actually have an answer for that. Fortunately, Mannon had already reached her own conclusion.

"Makes sense. Heck, that might have been their plan all along; plant it on you, then steal it back while the police were busy dealing with you." Shaking her head, Mannon asked, "So they helped you escape?"

"Plaintively; I wish I had known that before I put down the money for bail." Darsan told Finn.

"Bail?" It suddenly occurred to Finn why Miirian had been so surprised to see him out of his cell. Smacking himself on the forehead, he muttered, "They were coming to let me out. Perfect."

Shaking his head, he said, "I can't imagine it'll take long for security to figure out where we went. We need a plan … but first, I think we should send the Ulasomorf back to Trident. The last thing we need is for Agent Krios to be in danger because of this mess."

"You're concern is touching, Finnegan, but I can take care of myself."

Finn jumped, as did Mannon; Hylia was sitting at the table with them as though she had been there all along. He hadn't seen her approach and sit down at all, and his perception was still adrenaline augmented at the moment.

"Where did you …" Finn stopped himself. From the way she raised her eye-ridge and slyly smiled, it was clear he'd never get a clear answer. Sighing, he said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to insult you or anything."

"I understand completely." She replied. "The information I have is critical, and you want to make sure I have a chance to get it to Liara before Cerberus tries to track me down. Of course, you're assuming Cerberus is aware of me, but that's beside the point."

"I …" Finn sighed again and said, "Yeah, good point."

"Indeed." another small smile graced her face. "Besides, the Ulasomorf's still under lockdown. You did register it under your real name, after all."

"I get it!" Finn said, throwing up his hands in mock anger. "I'm a dumbass for using my real name. I'll think of an alias once we get out of this mess. For now, can we stick to trying to figure out a way out of here?"

"Pointedly; you could just turn yourself in and tell security the truth." Darsan suggested.

Mannon let out a hollow laugh. "I get the impression that they're not interesting in the truth as much as having someone to blame."

"I got that too." Finn admitted. Scratching his head, he said, "What we need is proof."

The voice in his ear said, "Like video footage of our friends Violet and Azure sneaking into the lockup. Footage I will be more than happy to provide as long as you get me the Creator's Tear."

"What?!"

Everyone at the table stared at Finn. Remembering himself, Finn coughed and said, "What about if we get the Creator's Tear back?"

"Intruiged;" said Darsan, "They might be more receptive to the truth if we return the stolen object. After all, what kind of real thief would return something that valuable?"

Mannons tared at them. "You're both nuts, you know that? How are we going to track down the real thieves?"

Glancing up at a black orb hanging from the ceiling, Finn said, "We do it the old fahsioned way."

"Huh?"

Finn stood up and hurried over to the bar. "Hey, Mister …"

The bartender nodded at him, saying, "Mikal Jecht. You can just call me Mikal, though; everyone does. What'll ya have?"

"Can I take a look at the footage from your security cameras?"

Raising an eyebrow suspiciously at Finn, Mikal warned, "That footage is automatically updated to a public server."

"That's fine." Finn assured him. "I just need to look at it."

Mikal glanced at Darsan, who said, "Firmly; Do it."

Shrugging, Mikal dug around behind the counter for a minute before pulling out a small slightly smudged datapad with the image of a knight riding a pig on the backside. "Here; you should be able to review the footage from here."

"Thanks." Finn brought the pad back to the table, already thumbing through the individual cameras to get a feel for where and where not the cameras were watching.

"Finn?" Mannon asked.

"Hang on." After passing over a few more of the feeds, he found a camera watching the Storeroom. From the angle, he could see behind the crates where Violet and Azure had hidden earlier.

"Okay." He said, setting the pad down so everyone could see it. "That's our angle; let's see where the real thieves went."

His finger traced around the timestream in the corner of the pad, rewinding the footage. He slowed the rewind to a more manageable level when he noticed footage with Darsan, Mannon, and Mikal.

"Here we go." He said, as the two quarians rewound to their hiding places. They watched as the footage began to play; once Finn was discovered, Violet nudged Azure, who immediately glanced at directly at the security camera. With a wave of her hand, the image went static. When the screen cleared, they were gone.

"Environment suits." Mannon said wonderingly. "Haven't seen one of those since the history vids back in school."

"They haven't needed them in a long time." Said Hylia.

Thinking back to how the helmets had been opaque, Finn said, "They're probably just wearing them as disguises now."

Glancing at Mikal, Finn asked, "Hey, Mikal; is there another way out of the storeroom?"

"Not that I know of." Mikal replied as he polished a drinking glass. "Other than however in the nine hells you managed to sneak in."

"We used the vents." Finn paused to consider that for a moment before shaking his head. "No, that wouldn't make any sense; they were looking for this place."

Shrinking the image of the warehouse feed into a smaller window, he scanned through the other camera feeds for a moment before finding one looking at the door that led to the storage room. After matching the time of the feeds, he wasn't surprised to find that the camera watching the storage room door went out shortly before the camera in the storage room came back on.

"Resigned; that's that, then. They got away. Out the front door, clean and easy."

"Hang on." Finn muttered. "I know I saw a feed on the outer door."

After cycling through the feeds again, he found a video feed facing the main doors of the Bowerstone pub. With some amusement, he noticed the barker in front of the restaurant was dressed as a medieval fool, and not enjoying it much from the look of him. Putting all three feeds on screen, Finn ran the entire sequence again; the thieves cut the camera in the warehouse, then cut the camera in the main room, then … nothing. The outside camera recorded no one leaving the building.

"Now that's interesting." Mannon murmured. "Is there another way out of this building, Mikal?"

"No, lass." He told her. "Just the main entrance. Mind you, I didn't realize the vents were an option."

Darsan shuffled his feet. "Uncertain; maybe it's misdirection. You know, they used the vent, but screwed with the cameras because they knew someone would check."

"They singled out this place." Finn told him. "She was very specific on the directions. This was part of the plan, but why would-"

Movement on the screen caught Finn's eyes; a group of women in somewhat gaudy dress were walking across the main room of the restaurant shortly before Finn and company came up from the store room.

"Quarians." Finn held up the pad so Mikal could see. "Who were they?"

Mikal squinted at the screen for a moment before saying, "Oh, that's Siren's Call. Their contract ended today. A shame; while I'll be glad back to usual business, they certainly were easy on the eyes."

Finn stared at the group. While they were certainly pleasant to watch ('bad Finn!' chastised a voice in Finn's head that sounded suspiciously like Kyra), it was their dress that caught his eye. Their clothes were very flashy, as one might expect from entertainers, but each member wore a different color.

"Of course." Finn whispered.

Mannon looked at him strangely. "Huh? What is it?"

Finn turned to Mikal again, asking, "Did you happen to hear any of their names?"

Scratching his head, Mikal said, "Give me a sec … yeah, I remember. The one in purple, she used to have a drink after dinner. Talked with me a bit; I tried to work my charm, but a lady like that's a bit beyond an old barkeep like me. I did hear one of her friends call her Violet, though."

Finn, Mannon, and Darsan traded glances. While the species may have been different, they all realized they were thinking the exact same thing.

Mikal chuckled, adding, "Ironic, huh?"

"Yeah, something like that." Said Finn, kicking himself inwardly for not catching it earlier. Did they say where they were going?"

"Back to Rannoch, I think. They were just finishing up a tour." Chuckling again, Finn said, "Lady Violet seemed rather homesick. Imagine I'd be too if … hey, where are you going?"

Finn was already halfway to the door. With parting glances at Mikal, Mannon and Darsan hurried after him.

"Finn!" Mannon called out.

"No time!" He told her. "We have to catch them before they leave!"

Finn shoved the door open and promptly bumped into a batarian in blue combat armor.

"Hey! Watch it human!" The batarian growled, shoving Finn back.

"Watch yourself, b-" Finn's voice fell flat as he met the batarian's eyes. It's a common misconception that all batarians look alike, but Finn had spent enough time on Omega to notice the differences in key features … enough to know that the batarian was the same one who had tried to grab Jake during Finn's last visit to the outlaw station.

"Wait a minute …" The batarian said, his four eyes narrowing. "You're Finn Cresste."

"Not by choice." Finn muttered.