Chapter 7
Nihlus closed the door behind him as he entered the office of Barla Von, and immediately several things about the volus became readily apparent. First, was that the chair opposite of the seated banker was ergonomic and designed for turian comfort, which meant that the banker knew he was coming and had provided comfortable accommodations. Despite him taking a moment to evaluate the room, the banker made no such attempts to rush him or say anything at all until Nihlus strode across the room on the fine asari carpet, and sat down on the very comfortable chair, taking note of the walls lined with bookshelves or fine art.
"Spectre Kryik, I am pleased that you have taken the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. It is also with great relief that your colleague is recovering from his injuries." The words of the volus seemed flattering even with the interruptions that the species had to make to catch their breath. It did not escape his notice that Barla Von took the time to casually drop how much he knew.
"I'm sure he will be glad to hear it."
"I am also interested to hear that you have been travelling with the Alliance and their recent unpleasantness. Safety can be a fragile thing. The Shadow Broker is concerned about these recent developments as well as many others of recent days. Some of which require more immediate attention. Recently one of those pressing situations has gone from concern to that which requires action. Are you familiar with Chora's Den?"
Nihlus' mandibles flared slightly at the mention of Chora's Den, as did most people on the Citadel. The question that now entered his mind was what was the significance?
"I know of the place."
"The owner is a man named Fist whose reputation is on par with that establishment. Despite this, he has often traded information and has been handsomely rewarded for it but now it seems that he has been hesitant on handing over the latest information he has been given. Recently a pair of researchers have been studying data extracted from the keepers, but now it seems he has recently found another buyer. My employer has recently hired the bounty hunter Urdnot Wrex to retrieve the data from Fist, yet we are unsure if he is up to the task and offer the same opportunity to yourself."
Nihlus gave only the slight nod to acknowledge what he had been told; the information was a little odd as he could not figure out why the Shadow Broker was so interested in keeper data. The meeting was brief and as soon as he was outside of the office in the financial district, he began to send out feelers only to be pinged with an alert that there was a disturbance at Chora's Den. No serious injuries but a krogan and a human were brought in for questioning.
In the meantime, far across the Cidadel down in the wards a young quarian was standing in front of a terminal, her deft fingers were moving across the console as she was studying the data streams. From time to time, she would pause and slightly cock her head to the side before she began to type again. Behind her a turian with a large weapon pointed slightly at the ground leaned against another workbench and occasionally fiddled with the upper receiver, indicating his boredom.
There was a slight hiss as the door into the small room opened and a salarian entered and approached the quarian with a cylinder in hand. The quarian stopped what she was doing and looked over at the cylinder, taking a single step before the turian raised his weapon.
"I don't think so, back to your workstation."
The salarian approached the quarian and set the cylinder down on the workstation beside the quarian, before he clasped his hands in front of himself and began to wring his hands slightly as he glanced at the screen that she was reading.
"I do sincerely apologize, but the keeper data is only so useful, and my buyer wants more than just the data. They want something that they can use. Give me something and the nutrient paste is yours and you can take a thirty-minute break."
The quarian seemed to ignore him for a moment as she continued to work for several moments before a line of streaming code froze and she pointed at it, although she did not bother to look over at the salarian, her rigid posture was either out of contempt or fear.
"This line of code repeats time and time again, but I have no idea what it means. I could provide you with a more comprehensive analysis if you actually decrypted the data or let me use my omni-tool. I don't know why you bothered taking me hostage to analyze data when you won't even give me the tools I need to analyze the data."
"Because we need pattern recognition, not analysis," the salarian said as he roughly pushed her from the terminal and his eyes scanned what he was seeing.
"Oh yes, that is very useful. You earned your break Tali Zorah, have your paste and take a nap. My guard will wake you up when it's time to get back to work. You will even have a work colleague when the time comes," the salarian slipped a device into the workstation before he left again, leaving Tali to contemplate her situation.
Her people lived on starships in a massive fleet ever since the Geth constructs her people had built drove them into exile three centuries previous. As she was a young adult now, custom required that she leave the fleet in search of something of value to prove her worth. Rumors were abundant the Geth were spotted outside of the system they now occupied but that rumor had led to very little. She did manage to track down a lone Geth and retrieve its memory core, but all it yielded was something about the keepers.
So, she made her way to the citadel and was doing freelance work for a machine shop when she noticed the salarian who called himself Chorban asking about anyone who could analyze data streams and provide tech solutions. She approached him and he offered her a job, which she only found out too late was not what she expected. Opening the cylinder, she pressed it to a port in her suit, and after a display confirmed it was sterile, she slowly began to eat the contents through a tube that was accessible inside her helmet.
Looking out the window, she could see the hangar down below on the private dock and the modified turian fighter that was docked. She was pretty sure that Chorban's employer wanted to use the keeper data to bypass Citadel security features. She only hoped that it was only to smuggle illegal goods and they didn't plan on anything dangerous to do with that fighter.
Alaya enjoyed metal, she did not know where it came from but what had started as her own little rebellion against her parents had turned into a real passion. Mortar Strike was pretty good and the pull towards the pit was almost like a black hole, and she was very much drawn to it, with only the reminder that she was here not to enjoy herself but to meet someone. This was a little different than her meeting with Nihlus and she had quickly changed into a pair of black leather pants with matching boots along with a white tank top.
"Didn't think humans cared much for turian music or turian anything," the voice behind her rumbled and while for a second, she thought it was Nihlus again, the pitch was wrong, and she turned around to see a turian in a black pants and a see through top and gold chain around his neck. What a poser was her first thought, although his face paint was a nice blue that matched his eyes and wasn't quite what she expected from a purist.
Alaya decided to play along, part of her enjoyed putting these guys into their place when they were offended that a girl without tattoos or wildly colored hair enjoyed metal. Giving him a bit of a smile, she decided to play along for the time being.
"I'm on a tourist visa on the Citadel, so many influencers on the extranet recommend expanding horizons and trying new cultural experiences so I thought that maybe I would see what this group is all about," Alaya said as she turned around and listened to the music. The vocalist had stopped singing and soon there was a pounding sound.
"That's the problem," the turian said as he stood beside her and leaned in.
"Humans can't hear turian subharmonics, so you miss out on the point of the music."
"You know, you're absolutely right. What would I know about this band? Other than they are kind of rebels and not a group a good turian would ever listen to."
"Oh?" This was the time that the turian seemed surprised.
"A band that talks about three fourteen and the 'firelance the answer to the hubris of Fedorian' is not the kind of words that good turians listen to let alone agree to."
"That's a fair point, I must admit that while Mortar Strike does have a wide audience, I did not know that the audience extended beyond the Milky Way," Alaya turned to face the turian, now even more surprised. How did he know who she was?
The turian chuckled at this, shaking his head to which Alaya did not know how to respond.
"Yeah, I know. I'm supposed to come up to you and ask some cloak and dagger code question about a human colony and you're supposed to answer with some super-secret answer like in the vids, but the truth of the matter is that I'm not that paranoid and this seemed a more amusing way to break the ice. Garrus Vakarian, I'm pleased to meet you, Alaya Shepard. Let's get some air."
Stepping outside of the club, Alaya could feel the slight ringing in her ears, but that had never really bothered her before, and she looked over at Garrus. The turian had a relaxed posture to him and for a moment, she wondered why he chose a place like this to meet up.
"So, I hear that the Council did you dirty to save face. You should get used to it; politicians will do whatever it takes to further their careers even if it means stepping on the people who actually keep the galaxy safe. Look on the bright side, you don't want to get promoted too much if you really want to make a difference."
Alaya bristled a little at what Garrus had said, she really did not like so many people knowing about her failure, no matter how much Captain Anderson insisted that she did the best she could under very trying circumstances. It was also hanging over her head what might happen when the report made it up the chain of command.
"Not used to taking one on the chin, are you? Boots all respond the same way the first time they lose a perp or a case they have been building for months gets thrown out for one reason or another. Most important thing about this job is that you can't let it eat at you. Someone got you with a sucker punch that put you on your ass, just make sure they don't pull the same stunt a second time around."
"Look, Garrus. I appreciate the pep talk, but if that's all you're here to do, I don't need the help."
"That's what most boots say and then they go running off to prove that they are better than most. Trust me when I say that the more you try this way of doing things, the greater chance someone on your team gets hurt because your head's not on straight. Nihlus called in a favor and asked me if I could teach you a thing or two, but if you want to prove to the galaxy that you don't need any help, don't let me get in your way."
Alaya thought about what the turian said, and it was true that with everything happening, she felt like she was drowning and could not figure out what she was supposed to do, but she was special forces and she needed to prove it.
"You're right," she exhaled a breath that she did not realize that she had been holding.
"And..." The turian rumbled with a slight flare that Alaya was sure was a grin.
"And Garrus, I am asking for your help."
"Close enough, you forgot to mention that you were asking help from the most attractive turian on the Citadel, but we can work on that."
"Sajuuk," Alaya said with an inflection that was a resignation but there was humour behind the word.
"So, Alaya. I know that you are a very capable soldier, and that to be Alliance special forces, you have intelligence and leadership skills. Forget what you may have been told by everyone involving the Spectres, they are not good at their jobs because they can shoot, they are good at their jobs because they are beat cops without the book."
Garrus gestured for her to follow him as they began to walk along the boulevard and Garrus wrapped his arm around her waist, to which she stiffened.
"Always assume that you are being watched. If we just walk side by side, anyone who watches us will know that we're cops."
"Friends can just walk beside each other," Alaya gritted back, not completely comfortable with this turian who had his hand around her waist.
"Friends travel in groups and talk loudly. We need to blend in with our surroundings, and in this surrounding, there are males and females taking their favorite person to a metal concert in hopes of getting lucky. Anyone who may be up to no good will look for people who stick out. Right now, we blend in about as well as an asari in a convent."
Alaya relaxed slightly as she was beginning to understand what Garrus was saying and was surprised at his wealth of knowledge as he was probably not that much older than she was. This was what Nihlus was getting at when they were at the club, and in spite of Garrus' cocky demeanor she also felt that he had the best of intentions.
"Ever been to Darkstar Lounge?"
"No?" Alaya asked with a slight rise in her voice.
"Well, we're going there now. We're going to try and eavesdrop on a volus and his quarian girlfriend."
"Seriously?"
"Definitely."
Outide of the Milky Way in a distant galaxy a group of men and women in uniform sat across from each other around a large meeting table. In the center of the table was a holographic projection of a planet along with numerous triangles around the planet that were expanded to show ships were represented by the triangles.
"How is this possible?" A woman with dark hair tied into a bun said as she looked at the image.
"We don't know," the man at the head of the table said as he pressed a button and the hologram changed to the image of a large ship with distinctive turrets and profiles that were clearly none other than a Taiidan heavy cruiser.
"The only Imperialist ships that slipped into the Milky Way were via the old Bentusi slipgates. Didn't our scientists locate the last gate nearly a decade ago and shut it down?" Yet another person in the room asked.
"That is correct. Before the Harborship self-destructed, the Bentusi had sent a coded signal to the Pride of Hiigara, transmitting the location of all slipgates," the head speaker confirmed.
"So, what do we do about it?"
"That is where we have a problem. If Hiigara sends a task force to hunt down these Imperials, the Citadel Council will go absolutely ballistic and the council races with mobilize believing that the Pax is planning an invasion. Neither can we ask the Taiidan Republic to send in a force to deal with it. The Alliance would never permit Taiidani vessels—even Republic vessels to transit their space."
"Could we send a specialist?" All the officers in the room looked at the single officer, and older man with gray hair.
"If we send an advisor, we can call it a gesture to build a friendship between the Taiidan Republic and the Systems Alliance. Their expertise could be used to track down the Imperialist forces in the Milky Way, all the while leaving the actual fighting to the Alliance and their Council allies. I even know who would be perfect for the job, he's an assault frigate captain and has been tangling with holdouts for quite some time."
"I'll bring the proposal to the security session of the Galactic Council. Have your man ready if they give us the go ahead," with that, the meeting concluded.