Seryna drove the skycar through the crowded skyline of Nos Astra. The sun was setting, dipping below the horizon as Seryna drove towards the Dantius Towers.

"The towers are heavily guarded, and you'll find more resistance closer to the penthouse." Seryna said, "So, this assassin—you planning to stop him?"

"I'm just here to make sure he survives." Kacey replied vaguely.

"Hmm. There they are: the Dantius Towers." Seryna said as they approached, "You'll have to get up the second tower and cross the bridge to the penthouse. Her mercs will fight you every step, but it's your best chance."

"Why don't we just save time and take the shuttle up?"

"She's got mercs with rockets just waiting for you to try. You'd get half-way up before they shoot you down. Besides your assassin won't go in that way. Best to go low."

"Okay, got any last-minute tips about the Towers?" Kacey asked.

"The Eclipse mercs will be well-fortified by now, and they won't want to disappoint Nassana." Seryna explained, "There's no automated defences or traps. Just focus on anything that moves."

"All right." Kacey said, "Let's do this."

…

"Don't linger too long." Seryna said as the trio got out of the skycar, "They'll be here to great you soon enough. Good luck, Shepard."

Seryna drove off quickly, leaving Kacey, Garrus and Zaeed to find their way in. As they turned towards the entrance, they saw two salarians running across towards the right, only to be gunned down by LOKI and FENRIS mechs. The FENRIS mechs skidded around the corner, making a beeline for the trio.

Kacey used her incendiary bullets to burn through the armour of the mech while both Zaeed and Garrus fired concussive shots. Once the mechs were down, the trio entered the building, and took a right. Walking past the corpses of the salarians, Kacey could hear another person breathing heavily nearby.

"Help…" the salarian said weakly.

"He's still alive." Garrus said surprised.

The salarian was covered in cuts and burns and was bleeding in several places. Kacey suspected a possible punctured lung given the wheezing sound coming from the salarian.

"What the hell?" Kaidan said, "What possible reason would someone have for that?"

"Paranoia. That's it." Kacey replied, "Pointless cruelty because of fear."

"I can't feel my legs…" the salarian said, wheezing, "My chest is killing me."

"Who did this to you?" Kacey asked sympathetic, "And why?"

"We're just night workers!" the salarian answered, "Nassana…sent them after us…she sent mechs to round us up, but we didn't hear…they just started shooting…"

"They just attacked you?"

"Yes…we were too slow. It was horrible. Everyone…screaming. The mercs said there was no time. Nassana wanted us out of the way…immediately. Then…*cough* the dogs…*cough*."

"He's not going to make it if we don't help him." Garrus said.

"I can't breathe…" the salarian wheezed, "Please…help me…ah. My chest is…"

"Here." Kacey said as she applied some Medi-gel on the salarian, "That should ease the pain and keep you alive until help arrives."

"Thank you." The salarian said, "That helps…a lot."

"Take your time."

The salarian began to stand up, "I think I'm…better. Find the other workers. Help them."

"Got any suggestions on how to reach the penthouse?"

"Take the service elevator to the upper floors." The salarian said, "The bridge between the towers isn't finished, but if you're careful…watch out for mercs. They're everywhere."

"Why would Nassana kill her own workers?" Zaeed asked.

"To her, we're expendable. But…I didn't realise she was that ruthless. My friends…co-workers…slaughtered. They were jumping off ledges to escape the dogs…"

"I do what I can." Kacey said, "I promise you that."

"Thank you." The salarian said as he hobbled away.

"Let's get moving." Kacey said.

She ran through the door and along the hall, where she came face to face with more mechs. She fired her assault rifle at the FENRIS mechs while Garrus and Zaeed kept the LOKI mechs busy. Kacey found herself repeatedly switching between disruptor and incendiary bullets, the latter was only used to burn through the armour on the FENRIS mechs. Once the dogs were dispatched, Kacey assisted both Garrus and Zaeed with the last of the LOKI mechs.

Once the mechs were finally disposed of, several Eclipse mercs appeared from around the corner, with three concussive shots being fired at the group. Kacey stuck with her incendiary bullets and burned through the Eclipse's armour quickly. Zaeed ploughed through their forces, tearing them apart while Garrus opted for Kacey's strategy of playing it safe and timing his shots. Kacey narrowly avoided a biotic pull and instead used her grenade launcher to force the Eclipse commando out of hiding, allowing Garrus to finish the commando off.

They continued to move forward through the ground floor, killing several Eclipse vanguards and two more FENRIS mechs. They then went through a door and up a large ramp, through another door and into a much smaller space, with several more Eclipse mercs. Kacey took cover behind a large, neatly stacked pile of tiles. She fired of another concussive shot to destroy the barrier of the vanguard then quickly disposed of the mercenary before they could regenerate their barrier. After a couple of minutes, the trio had disposed of the mercenaries. Kacey found a locked door hidden away on the other side and hacked it open. Once the door opened, Kacey held up her sidearm, but lowered it after seeing a few salarians on the other side.

"Please…don't kill us!" One of them shouted, "We'll go…we'll go…"

"Hey look… they're not Eclipse." Another said.

"You're here to help us…right?" The first one asked.

"It's one reason we're here." Kacey replied, "Come on out, it's safe enough."

"Thank you." The second one replied, "We are in your debt."

"Maybe you could help me." Kacey said, "I'm looking for someone. Not a merc—he's on his own."

"Well, whoever sealed us in here…"

"When he found us, I thought we were dead." The first one answered, "But he just closed the door and locked us in."

"Locked you in?" Garrus mused, "Sounds like our assassin was trying to keep them safe."

"Assassin?" The second salarian questioned.

"Here for Nassana, I bet." The first replied, "She's got it coming. You treat people like this; it always comes back to bite you in the ass."

"Nassana's not exactly your favourite person?" Kacey asked.

"She's a…hard woman to work for." The second salarian replied.

"That's an understatement!" The first one said, "She works us long hours. No overtime. And this is what you get as payment."

"She's unpleasant to say the least."

"Why not just quit?" Garrus asked.

"We would if we could." The second one said.

"What's stopping you?" Kacey asked.

"Our contract." The first replied, "We're stuck here until the job's done. Quitting for any reason can be hazardous to your health."

"We hear that anyone who leaves early tends to disappear. Probably just a rumour."

"But who wants to find out for sure?"

"I wouldn't stay here too long." Kacey replied, "It should be safe on down on the lower floors."

"I was just thinking the same thing." The second salarian said, "Let's go, everybody."

"Thank you." The first one said, "And tell your assassin to aim for her head…cause she doesn't have a heart!"

The salarians quickly left as Kacey, Garrus and Zaeed reached the elevator. Kacey called for the elevator.

"We're a little exposed out here, especially if anyone's in that elevator." Garrus said.

"I think you've just jinxed it, Garrus." Kacey said as she headed into cover.

By the time the trio made it into cover, the elevator doors opened, revealing two Eclipse commandos and a krogan bounty hunter.

"I told you; you jinxed it!" Kacey shouted as she used her grenade launcher to slow down the krogan. .

Kacey's grenades not only whittled down the krogan's shields but had also destroyed thee barriers of the two commandos, making it easier for Zaeed and Garrus to kill them. With a bit of patience, lots of incendiary bullets and over seven concussive shots, the krogan was eventually went down. The trio ran towards the elevator before any other mercenaries could show up.

…

"I haven't heard from Teams Four or Five. Don't worry, my team is always ready to go. I don't know where he is, not yet. Don't worry about it. We don't need any reinforcements."

Kacey had gestured to thee pair to remain quiet as they snuck up on the lone mercenary, whose back was facing them.

"I'll take care of it. It's under control. I'll go down there myself."

"Turn around, very slowly." Kacey said as Zaeed and Garrus pointed their guns at the merc's head.

The mercenary turned around and looked at the trio, "Damn it."

"Have you seen the assassin?" She asked, taking a few steps forward. The mercenary took a few steps back, until he was right up against the glass.

"Why are you looking for him?" he asked, "You're not one of Nassana's mercs. Who are you?"

"Answer my questions and I'll let you go. Simple as that." Kacey replied.

"Look, pal, even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you."

Kacey got in his face, "Not the answer I was looking for."

"I've got nothing more to say to you." The merc replied, crossing his arms, "If you shoot me, my team's right through there… they'll be all over you."

"Is a little information really worth dying over? Is Nassana?" Kacey asked.

"No…I suppose not."

"Didn't think so. And I'd rather not put you through this window either." Kacey said in a threatening tone, "So start talking."

"Okay, Okay look…last I heard; the assassin was down on the mezzanine. But the teams on the bridge think they might have spotted him. Nobody knows for sure."

"Get out of here."

"I'm going." The merc walked off quickly.

"You let him go?" Kaidan asked.

"Yeah. And besides, I couldn't be bothered kicking him through a window."

"Falling to your death is a grim way to die."

"He owes you his life, Shepard." Garrus said, "Not many people would have let him go."

"It would've been easier to kill him." Zaeed commented.

"Screw doing things the easy way." Kacey said, "Come on, we're nearly at the bridge."

As the enter the next room, which was structured like a large hall, Kacey, Garrus and Zaeed hide behind cover as they heard a merc speak to Nassana over the comms.

"He's all over the place."

"What do you mean?" Nassana demanded.

"We've got reports of him on multiple levels. We think he's travelling through the ducts…"

"I'm not paying you to think. Just find him. Now!" Nassana shouted.

"How delightful." Garrus said as Kacey snickered.

Garrus had already overloaded all of the mechs, rendering them useless. As Kacey and Zaeed focused on the incoming mercenaries, Kacey had ran out of thermal clips for her rifle, deciding to switch over to her pistol instead. They very quickly wiped out the mercs in the room, and once the coast was clear, Kacey hacked open another door. Inside the small room was several salarian workers, just like the last one.

"Are you guys all right in here?" Kacey asked.

"Get back!" One of them shouted, drawing a pistol on Kacey, "Get back…I'll shoot."

"Relax." Garrus said, "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"I don't want to hurt you…but I will." The salarian replied, "I said get back. I'll do it. Please…don't make me do it."

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here." Kacey replied calmly, "What's your name?"

"I…I'm Telon." Telon said, "Don't come any closer!"

"Telon, I'm Commander Shepard." Kacey replied as slowly and clearly as she could, "I don't work for the mercs, and I don't want to hurt you either. I'm here to help."

"You really took those lessons to heart." Kaidan said.

"Yeah, well you kinda need to if you want to be an N7 anyway." Kacey replied, "I'm more surprised that I remembered all the steps for it. I hadn't done it in a while at that point."

"I…all right…here…"

Telon gave the pistol over to Kacey.

"I…don't feel so…" Telon trailed off as he promptly collapsed.

"Telon!" another salarian shouted, "He's my brother. I just want to see if he's all right. Are you the ones who shot the merc?"

Kacey looked over to find the corpse of another merc in the room, "It wasn't me. Your brother didn't do it?"

"No. Telon was standing here with me."

"What happened exactly?"

"The merc found us and wanted us to move. We panicked, and he shouted more. I thought he was going to kill us…then…his head just exploded. Telon picked up the merc's gun, but we were too afraid to leave. Then you showed up."

"A perfect headshot with not collateral damage." Garrus mused, "Very impressive."

"There are still mercs up here." Kacey said, "You should get to the lower levels."

"No need to convince me." He replied, "Telon…come on, get up."

After helping his brother stand up, Telon turned to face his sibling, "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, we're getting out of here." He said before turning to Kacey, "Thank you."

As they left the small room, Kacey could hear Nassana shouting through the comms.

"Where is everyone?!" She shouted, "Will somebody please give me a report?!"

Kacey found the comm terminal and pressed the button to start a conversation.

"It's about time!" She snapped, "What's going on down there?!"

"I'm afraid your men aren't able to respond, Nassana." Kacey said.

"Who…? Damn it!" Nassana shouted down the comms as Kacey headed up the ramp to the next floor.

…

Getting through to the bridge was a lot harder that Kacey had initially thought. Fighting wave after wave of some of the highest ranking members of the Eclipse was draining. So, by the time they reached the bridge, Kacey wasn't left with much patience or bullets.

The bridge was well fortified; automated turrets and the other end, several places for cover but little room to mauver plus a lot of Eclipse and mechs. It was a death sentence, but they had to catch up with Thane.

"I don't care what you do, no one get's across that bridge!" Nassana bellowed down the loudspeaker.

"What's the plan, Kacey?" Garrus said as he sat next to Kacey and Zaeed moved into cover a few paces away.

"We'll focus on the enemies closest to us and work our way along the bridge." Kacey said, "Once we're halfway, you're gonna need to snipe at those turrets so we can get into the building."

"Okay. Sounds easy when you say it like that." Garrus said.

Kacey opened fire on the mechs, destroying them quickly while Zaeed primarily fired off concussive shots, which more often that not, sent the mercs flying off the bridge. Garrus sniped at the barriers of the vanguards while Kacey took the liberty of finishing them off. A concussive shot was then fired at Kacey, which would've sent her over the bridge had Garrus not grabbed a hold of her before she fell.

Once they reached the halfway point, Garrus began to shoot at the turrets while Kacey and Zaeed moved their way through the other side, firing off concussive shot after concussive shot at the mercs. Once they had killed all of the Eclipse mercs, they entered the first tower, hoping to find Nassana quickly.

…

As the sun raised across Nos Astra, Kacey, Garrus and Zaeed finally reached Nassana Dantius, who had her back to them as they entered. As the Eclipse drew their weapons, Nassana turned to see Kacey, with shock written all of her face.

"Shepard? But…you're dead." Nassana said surprised.

"I got better." Kacey replied in a snarky tone.

"And now you're here to kill me."

"Interesting idea." Kacey replied as Garrus and Zaeed drew their weapons, "You really are paranoid, aren't you?"

"Don't patronise me, Shepard." Nassana snapped.

"Charming as ever."

"I'm sure you find this all very ironic." Nassana said, "First you take care of my sister, and you're here for me. Well, you made it this far. Now what?"

"You really think I'm here to kill you?"

"Do you have another reason for destroying my tower? Decimating my security?"

"I'm just looking for someone."

"You expect me to believe that?" Nassana snapped, "Is it credits? Is that what you want? Just tell me your price. We can make this problem go away."

"She tried to bribe you?" Kaidan said.

"Yes, although unfortunately for her, I was not the one who wanted her dead."

"No amount of money in the world will make this problem go away, Nassana."

The thundering noise came rumbling through the vents. As the mercs looked around, Nassana grew impatient.

"What?"

"I heard something." One of the commandos said.

"Damn it." Nassana said as she slammed her fists on her desk, "Check all other entrances."

She glared at Kacey, "You…stay put. When I'm finished dealing with this nuisance you and I are—what are you smirking at?"

Kacey kept smirking, "You'll see."

In less than a second, a drell dropped from the vent and swiftly killed all the mercs in one fluid motion before gracefully killing Nassana and lying her body gracefully on the desk. He moved her hands he cover her chest as he stood sombrely next to the body and looked to be praying.

"Impressive." Garrus said, "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

Kacey took a few steps forward, "Hello? I was hoping to talk to you."

"I apologise, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken." Thane replied.

"Do you really think she deserves it?"

"Not for her. For me." Thane corrected, "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction…chaos. I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me. Well…here I am."

"How did you know I was coming at all?" Kacey asked.

"I didn't." Thane replied, "Not until you marched in the front door and started shooting. Nassana had become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her. You were a valuable distraction."

"You used me so you could kill her?"

"I needed a diversion. You needed to speak with me." Thane said, "You certainly fulfilled your end of the bargain. What would you like to discuss?"

"Someone's been abducting entire human colonies." Kacey explained, "We're going to stop them. We already know the culprits—a race called the Collectors."

Thane walked towards Kacey, "I've heard of them. Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 Relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

"They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos too."

"A fair point. You've built a career on preforming the impossible. This was to be my last job. I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

"I hadn't heard that. Is there anything I can do?"

"Given me this opportunity is enough." Thane replied, "The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it a little brighter before I die. Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough, and they suffered. I must atone for that."

He shook Kacey's hand, "I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."

…

Kacey was already in the Briefing Room with Jacob as Thane entered. She was happy to be done with all of this and have time to rest.

"I've heard impressive stories about you, Krios." Jacob said a bit bitter, "Sounds like you'll be an asset to the team. That is, if you're comfortable with an assassin watching your back."

"I've accepted a contract." Thane replied calmly, "My arm is Shepard's."

"Uh-huh." Jacob scoffed, "Don't know about you, but I'm loyal to more than my next paycheck."

"I tried really hard to hold my tongue. It isn't good for a commanding officer to snap and pick fights with their subordinates. But I couldn't tolerate Jacob's attitude here."

"Obviously he is too." Kacey replied, calm, "He's doing this mission gratis. What's your concern?"

"I don't like mercenaries." Jacob answered, "An assassin is just a precise mercenary."

"If you don't like mercenaries then how come you're okay with Zaeed being here?" Kacey asked, "Zaeed's being paid to be here. Thane is doing this for no money."

Jacob didn't reply; he looked at the scarlet haired commander like she had just said something crazy.

"An assassin is a weapon. A weapon doesn't choose to kill." Thane said to Jacob, "The who wields it does. "

Thane turned his attention towards Kacey, "Where should I put my things? I'd prefer someplace dry, if anything is available."

"The area near the life support plant on the Crew Deck tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship." EDI said.

"Ah. An AI? My thanks." Thane replied.

Thane gave a courteous nod (and Kacey returned one in turn) before swiftly leaving to go to the Life Support area.

"He seems quite civil." EDI said once Thane was out of earshot.

"I agree. He very civil." Kaidan said, "I see what you mean when you say he wasn't a typical assassin."

"Thane was a very unorthodox assassin." Kacey said, "Not what I expected at all."

"Give him a chance." Kacey said, "We need all the help we can get. He's not what I expected in an assassin. He may surprise you."

"Yeah. And he may not." Jacob said as he walked off in a huff.