The drive to the Dracon Trade Centre was a tense one. Kacey didn't trust the asari Spectre sat next to her, and she was getting worried about Liara. If she was really going after the Shadow Broker, then the situation was going to deteriorate fast.
Her lack of trust in Tela came mostly from her attitude; she knew who she and Garrus were and seemed almost smug about it. But it was the deflections in her story that set off alarm bells for Kacey. It seemed that Tela avoided certain questions about her presence in Liara's apartment and Kacey couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something. Before Kacey knew it, they had landed at the Dracon Trade Centre.
There were several people outside of the trade centre, discussing business deals and signing contracts. It was an unremarkable place, to be sure.
"The Baria Frontiers offices are located on the third floor." Tela said, as they walked up the steps towards the trade centre, "I don't hear police chatter, we must have missed the party."
Just as Tela finished a large explosion rocked the building down to its core. Kacey looked up, and saw which floor had been blown to pieces as screams echoed throughout the area.
"Liara's in there!" She shouted.
Another explosion went off, the impact of which had knocked Kacey, Garrus and Tela back a few meters. When Kacey had finally picked herself back up, she saw several dead civilians littered across the area.
"What the hell?" Garrus said.
"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead!" Tela exclaimed, "I'll grab the skycar and seal off the building from the top!"
"I'll start down here and work my way up." Kacey replied.
"Just leave some for me." Tela said, as she got back in her skycar and flew off.
"Three floors?! Just to kill Liara?" Kaidan said shocked.
"Yeah, and they didn't even succeed." Garrus mused.
Kacey and Garrus ran past the injured civilians as they made their way inside the burning trade centre. As they entered the building, the potent smell of smoke lingered in the air. The building was clearly falling apart; emergency power was on, and the elevators were no longer in use.
"No alarms. Odd." Kacey muttered, "Vasir, the elevators are out, and building security is down."
"No alarms. No police. Very professional." Tela mused.
"Kacey, over here!" Garrus shouted as Kacey headed over to him, "Look. Baria Frontier employee. Looks like he got caught in the explosion."
"And what are the chances of Liara's informant surviving the blast?" Kacey said.
"Not likely." Garrus said.
The pair made their way up to the next floor, where Kacey saw another casualty, but became suspicious at the wounds the victim had.
"Vasir, got another casualty here. Looks like he's got bullet wounds." Kacey said, "Watch yourself, they used military-grade hardware."
"Bullet wounds?" Tela mused, "Guess this was more than just an explosion."
"I don't think these are ordinary mercs, Kacey." Garrus said, "The sniper rifle that Liara's would be assassin was using wasn't standard issue. Something isn't right here."
"You're right." Kacey said, heading up the next flight of stairs, "And I want to know what it is."
They reached the top of the stairs and took a left, heading straight towards the Baria Frontiers offices. As they entered, Kacey headed towards the log-in terminal.
"Vasir. I'm at the Baria Frontiers office." Kacey said, "Liara signed in just a few minutes ago."
"Understood, Commander."
Kacey headed inside, ignoring the alarms, and trying to avoid inhaling too much smoke. As she turned corner, she was hit with a flashbang grenade. Kacey staggered back, rubbing her eyes.
"Aw, shit!" Kacey said as she tried to process what had just happened.
Several mercenaries in full black armour appeared down the hall, opening fire on Kacey and Garrus. Garrus covered Kacey as she re-oriented herself and found cover. She used her disruptor ammo to hammer through the mercs shields as she radioed Tela.
"Vasir! We're pinned down! Mercs—and they're well-armed!"
"Say hello to the Shadow Broker's private army, Commander!" Tela replied.
"Damn it!"
Kacey tried to smash through the mercenaries' shields but to little to no avail. The mercenaries' shields were regenerating far too quickly for Kacey to get a killing shot in. whatever tech they were using, it was definitely not standard issue. She resorted to using her grenade launcher to smash through the shields while Garrus quickly opened fire on the now vulnerable mercenaries.
"Looks like those shields aren't perfect." Garrus said, "They don't regenerate once they're broken."
"So, lots of grenades then?" Kacey laughed.
…
The pair's fight through the Baria Frontiers offices was as hectic as it was difficult. The upgraded gear was proving to be a challenge to the veteran officers. And in Kacey's view, the constant regenerating shields were starting to get on her nerves. She was running out of grenades fast, and there was only so much they could do without them. Concussive shots seemed to work, provided that both Garrus and Kacey fired it at a merc together.
The place was a wreck; fires everywhere, small crumbling pieces of the infrastructure littered the floor. All electronic devices were either sparking or were destroyed entirely. Whether or not Liara survived was a question that plagued Kacey as they made their way through the offices.
The mercenaries were here in force; there seemed to be an ever-increasing amount of them flooding the ruined offices. To Kacey, it seemed as though the Shadow Broker wanted Liara and her informant gone, no matter the cost.
They continued to bolt through the building, until the reached the stairs. Fire from the blocked pipes blocked the path forward. Kacey ran into another room, looking for the fire suppression system. Once she found it, she activated it, clearing the path forward. As they moved upstairs, the pair engaged in yet another shoot-out with the mercenaries.
"They must really want them dead!" Garrus quipped as he killed a merc in one shot.
"Us too!" Kacey replied, using a concussive shot on another, "How many are there?!"
Kacey was down to two power cells, meaning only two grenades left. She hoped that this was the last of the mercenaries, as she wasn't in a good position ammo wise. The pair eventually reached the office, only to find Tela killing a merc and a dead salarian nearby.
"Seems a bit too convenient that she was there before you." Kaidan mused.
"Because it was." Kacey replied.
"Damn it." Tela said, "If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could've stopped them."
Something about her tone of voice had set off another red flag for Kacey. It sounded fake; her sorrow was manufactured. Kacey took a few cautious steps towards the salarian, careful not to take her eyes of Tela.
"Is this Seket?" Kacey asked, keep an eye on Tela.
"Must have been." Tela replied bluntly.
Kacey assessed her response; cold and deflective. She rested her right hand on her pistol as she continued.
"No sign of the data Liara talked about." Kacey said, turning to face Tela, "Looks like a dead end. Unless…"
"Unless?"
Kacey noticed a change in Tela's voice, and she took note of how Tela refused to turn to face her. Kacey continued.
"Unless Liara has it."
"Speaking of which." Tela said, "Did you find your friend's body?"
"Who said she was dead?"
Tela turned to face Kacey, "What are you getting at, Commander?"
"How would you know if Liara was dead or not, Vasir?" Kacey said.
"Look at this place!" Tela deflected, "They bombed three floors to kill her! Look at all those mercenaries. There's no way she survived all that. The least we can do is find her body."
"You mean this body?"
"Liara!" Kacey and Garrus said.
"Shepard! Be careful." Liara said, "This is the woman who tried to kill me."
"Why am I not surprised?" Kacey said.
"I knew it. I knew she couldn't be trusted." Kaidan said.
"And as you can see, Kacey trust issues are infectious." Garrus laughed.
"Oh, ha ha!" Laughed Kacey.
"You've had a rough day, so I'll let that slide." Tela replied, taking a few steps back, "Why don't you put that gun down?"
"I saw you!" Liara shouted, "I doubled back after I left. I watched you break into my apartment!"
"I knew it." Kacey said, pulling up her sidearm, "You didn't know where Liara went, did you? So, you needed me to find her hidden message."
"Naturally." Tela replied.
"Once she had my location, she signalled the Shadow Broker's forces." Liara explained, "They bombed the building to take me out. She found Seket, took his data and killed him."
"And I signalled the mercs to take you three out." Tela said, "But you are as tough as they say, Commander. I wonder why."
"That is none of your damn business." Kacey snapped.
"I'm guessing she's still got the disk on her." Liara said.
"Good guess." Tela smirked, "Not that you'll ever see what is on it…"
The window cracked behind her, "You pureblood bitch!"
Tela used her biotics to throw shards of glass from the now broken window at the trio. Liara pulled her barrier and shielded all three of them from glass. Kacey saw Tela run towards the broken window and followed her. She lunged at Tela and knocked her over. They slide down the side before Tela manged to stop herself and hovered above the ground. Tela then slammed Kacey down onto the ground three stories below.
"You fell three stories?!" Kaidan said, shocked.
"Yeah. That wasn't me at my best." Kacey said.
Kacey rolled as she faced the ground below, out of breath and in pain in so many different places. As she shakily tried to pick herself up, she watched as Liara landed nearby and immediately pursued Tela.
"I'm okay, thanks for asking." Kacey replied sarcastically.
Garrus ran towards her as Liara turned the corner, out of sight. The turian helped Kacey up.
"Are you okay, Kacey?" he asked.
"I'll be fine." She replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, now come on. We need to catch up to Liara."