Kasumi's request for help had me wanting to head straight for the Citadel, but there were two impediments. One, I was coming out of a Cerberus facility, so long trip it was. Two, I only had minimum gear with me - shield harness and my Striker - so I needed more. And while raiding the armory at the Minuteman Station was an option, I preferred not to give Miranda more excuses to ask questions. Besides, my set of gear was starting to grow to be a very particular set.
I waited at a remote base for about six hours, and in the meantime caught up with Kasumi over omni-messaging. I hadn't gotten much in terms of information for her; it seemed as if the issue with the luxury ship wasn't exactly high priority for the Broker's network. But she had dug up some possible leads. Some pictures were being circulated through certain networks, together with associated prices. So it either pointed at slavers, or the slavers just got the spoils due to someone else wanting to make a buck. Either way, not brilliant. But for what she told me, her friend wasn't in immediate danger. I didn't quite get that, but eh, it was her show.
About ten small shuttles seemingly lost in that remote space station, and the one destined for me finally arrived. It parked at the dock, a pilot came out, and after a quick glance around, he came straight for me. Human. Freaking sunglasses indoors. Very discrete.
"Are you the Messenger of Morgan?" he said, not even blinking at the weird moniker.
"That's me," I replied, finally glad to be on my way.
"Let's go," he said, pointing at the shuttle with his thumb over his shoulders. "My contact will be at the Citadel air control in twelve hours, we have to get there on time."
"All right," I said, "but what's the issue? I'm not wanted in the Citadel or anything, am I?"
"I don't know, but a crate full of weapons and armor is not like delivering doughnuts."
"Oh." I stepped into the back, while the pilot made for his seat and started his routine. "I thought Spectre clearance would cut through the bullshit."
He stopped what he was doing to look back over his shoulder. "You have Spectre clearance?"
"I do. Or at least I did, come to think of it. They might have revoked it."
"Let me check, that might complicate things."
"How so?"
"It works both ways my dude, they let you in more easily but they track everywhere you go in the Citadel."
"Oh. Shit, I didn't know that."
"Discreet business?"
"Possibly, not sure where though. Still waiting on info with that."
"Uh-huh. We'll see what they say."
I sat back as we took off, and once we were en route, went to check the crate. I opened to see the distinct pattern of my Lambda suit. Recently upgraded with heavier plates, courtesy of the gene mods giving me the muscle and stamina to carry them. Thought about bringing the AI harness, but I still hadn't checked to see how "popular" it was, so to speak. I had made a mess while in it back during the attempted abduction at the Citadel, and there was also Liara, who had seen it. Chances of meeting Liara were low, but I was going straight for the Citadel. Better play it safe. Which reminded me, it had been a while, I should probably send her a message and see how she was doing.
Regardless, I had grown attached to the Lambda suit. It was still distinctively an envirosuit, mostly due to the particular construction of the helmet and the back structure where the specialized hardware lived. It wasn't cumbersome, but it was distinctive. Looked like a small rolled-up blanket on the lower back, right below where I usually clipped my shotgun, as well as a couple of protrusions along the spine, which housed the pipes - well shielded under thick ceramic plates. But it was a pretty good hardsuit as well with all the rather expensive upgrades it had. Geth shield tech too. And more importantly, finally managed to squeeze a medical interface in there. Not a sophisticated one, too much hardware in the suit already, but better than nothing.
Then there was the guns.
As part of my ambidexterity training, Gee had set me up for all sorts of training courses. Apparently there's no lack of places to train in the art of shooting people if one has the credits. Part of it was having to learn to do things with both hands. Which sometimes meant literally having my right arm tied to my back. And sometimes it meant dual wielding guns.
Pro-tip: As a general rule, it's actually pretty useless. You can be ambidextrous and all, but splitting your attention between two targets leads to being shit with both of them, regardless of hand dominance. Other times, however, it can be pretty handy. If you want to drop a buttload of bullets at a single target, spitting them at twice the rate does have its advantages. If you're laying down cover fire, you don't have to be as accurate with the firing; it's just a deterrent, after all. And sometimes you can do enough while splitting your attention.
But as a result of all that, my loadout had changed substantially. In the crate there was a second striker, completely identical to Mika's one. A customized Armaggedon shotgun (no, dual wielding shotguns is not a good idea). And then there was the SMGs.
SMGs had fallen out of favor across the galaxy. Several manufacturers had compact models of their assault rifles that shared most of their construction with the regular ones and were almost as portable as the typical SMG, a huge plus for maintenance, and heat management did influence weapon design greatly. SMGs sat in the middle where the extra compact and light construction with automatic firepower didn't compensate for its other shortcomings. They were still out there, and when you wanted to smuggle a gun past some sort of control, they were better than the typical assault rifle (ask me how I know these things), but it was the introduction of geth ejectable heatsinks that really pushed their comeback. Suddenly the compact design wasn't at the expense of rate of fire or sustained firepower.
And, thus, I had ended up with a pair of very distinctively custom submachine guns of Geth design. Larger than the average pistol, with retractable foregrip and shoulder brace, single, burst, and full auto mode. During normal operation, it had super low recoil despite being light enough to be used with one hand. When I really needed the punch, I could crank it up; it'd reduce the rate of fire and increase the size of the slug, as well as muzzle velocity; that's what the front grip and shoulder brace were for. Two in one. And rather complex to use and maintain, all things said, but that wasn't the point. The point was to train me in the use and abuse of my ambidexterity to switch between all the modes on the fly, and swap between using one or two weapons as the training scenario demanded. Two SMGs for raining fire. SMG + Pistol when using suppression fire while taking down targets that required more accuracy. Single-gun SMG for hardened targets. And dual pistols, while amusing, is not particularly effective, so forget the cool points.
Why carry two pistols, then? To be able to use the pistol as required with either hand, but not necessarily having to swap guns between hands on the fly.
"Looks like your credentials are still current," the pilot called. "Still, I'd recommend not raising any flags. If you're caught boarding without authorization, it's just a 500 credit fine and you've gt the credentials."
"Wait, boarding the Citadel in secret and being caught is... a 500 credit fine?" I said, stopping everything I was doing in surprise. "That's it?"
"it's a funny Galaxy my friend. Someone greased the right palms when they set those rules."
I just shook my head in disbelief and finished going over my gear. Armor, weapons, a large pack of Medi-gel in its cooler, a smaller pack with half a dozen stim ampoules, a perfectly fitting tailored undermesh, and a choice of ammo blocks depending on what we would be facing. No explosives, grenades, or anything like that this time. It didn't sound like we were out to do a military assault of any kind, so it was better to keep those at home.
Twelve hours later on the dot we were boarding the Citadel. And two hours later I was finally out of the container where I had been sitting waiting to be let out. I hadn't seen the cargo wings of the Citadel much, the closest had been my trip with the Far Mist, and it wasn't even that close to them, and it was incredible. They were absolutely massive, much, much bigger than the population size of the Citadel should warrant, but a lot of trade seemed to use the Citadel as its staging area. Lots of connections from the relay, so it was understandable. The cargo container opened after two hours, completely by itself. I stepped out carrying my gear in two cases, carrying only a shield harness and Mika's pistol visibly on me. I left the empty crate behind without a second thought, and after spending a few minutes looking for AVINA, finally got a path to get the hell out of there. I crossed two C-Sec officers, who made an obstinate point to be looking away when I walked by them.
I really shouldn't be surprised.
One rapid transit trip later, and I stumbled out in annoyance on level 27 of the Zakera Ward. I was starting to get used to the murderous VI that piloted those things I thought, but it looked like I was out of practice. As I found a bench to sit down and recover my sense of balance, I heard an easily recognizable, playful voice not far from where I was sitting.
"Mister Morgan, please enter your password to receive your free gift!"
I looked at the advertisement terminal and managed to hold my laughter as I saw Kasumi's face over it. I was about to get up and head in that direction, but caught myself. Instead, I crossed my arms in a more comfortable position, and leaned back on the bench, looking away.
"Mister Morgan, we have the finest companions waiting for you. Something petite, smart and Japanese. Or perhaps taller, sarcastic, well muscled, but still Japanese could be more your style."
The noise coming out of my mouth sounded a bit like an elephant with a cold, but nope, not looking yet. Goodness gracious Kasumi.
"Just enter your password for a fabulous prize worth millions of credits!"
Oh dear, she was starting to sound a bit testy. But nope, I wasn't going to answer just yet. This was way too funny.
"You better answer, because I get stuck with the angry Tanuki," a voice suddenly called right behind me.
I nearly jumped out of my feet, catching myself before falling off the bench. Behind me, Keiji was laughing his ass off.
"Bloody hell! I didn't know you were as sneaky as she is!" I said.
"Not quite," Keiji said, laughing softly, "but seriously, I get to deal with the fallout when she's angry."
"Please reserve your tickets for tonight's re-enactment of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment," Kasumi called through the ad.
"Oh crap, this is getting serious," I said.
As I said this, the ad switched and there was a recorded noise like the cracking of a whip, and Kasumi's voice came through, playful in a rather disturbing way. "Don't worry, we know what you really want, let Mistress Kasumi show you what a bad boy you have been..."
Keiji gave me a shove, and I headed for the terminal. I hit the "Interact" button and the image of Kasumi's face stayed in place instead of rotating to the next ad.
"All right, all right, Silence is golden."
"So that's what it took to get you here, I shall file this information away." Kasumi said.
I was going to answer, but I was struggling too hard to contain the laughter. It didn't occur to me that anyone else telling me the exact same things would have annoyed me, but Kasumi and Keiji just didn't.
"Come on, the golden boy's here," Keiji said, coming to stand next to me and slapping me on the shoulder. "But seriously, next time just follow the protocol? It's good practice for more serious matters."
"Blame her," I said, pointing at the now empty advertisement board with my thumb, "I just had to know what would come next."
"You had to know," Kasumi's voice sudenly called behind me, as a finger poked me on the back of the head, "or were you hoping for that last one?"
"Oh hi Kasumi," I said, chuckling lightly as she came to stand next to Keiji.
"Hi! And I'll have you know, it won't be easy to convince Keiji, because he's the jealous kind," Kasumi said.
As she did, Keiji put an arm around her and pulled her close. "Can't help it, I spend too much time not being able to see you."
"Well, Roy can see me. Maybe you don't pay enough attention to me," Kasumi said, poking Keiji in the ribs.
"Fine, fine you two," I said, waving them down. "So where are we at?"
"Come on, let's go somewhere more private," Kasumi said.
She led the way and a few minutes later we made our way into a restaurant. Japanese lettering outside, a beautiful smell in the air, and every table seemed to have a boiling pot of stock in the middle that the patrons were filling with all kinds of delicious ingredients. Instead of taking a table, Kasumi led us through the back door, exchanging a nod with who appeared to be the owner, and soon we were in a private room. Which still had a table with room for the pot in the middle.
"Hungry?" Kasumi said, giving me a side glance.
"I don't know, I've been traveling for like forty hours. All these long shuttle trips just throw me off."
"Well let's talk first, we don't want to upset the order of the Galaxy or anything by feeding you a cup of broth."
Keiji laughed with me, and the three of us sat down at the table. There was some news to share, surprisingly. Kasumi had traced the location of the transmissions coming from her friend to a remote system in the Traverse, and was currently combing through the information networks to find out what was out there. It was much too far out of the way from regular routes that Council ships would take. Definitely much too far for an asari luxury cruiser to be. Either they had gone way out of their usual stomping grounds, or whoever had attacked them had gone deep into Council space to find them. Either way it stank.
The bigger problem was not knowing who we were dealing with. If it had been a group coming deep into Council space, it could be a well trained and specialized group, possibly trying to kidnap a specific passenger and using the disappearance of the ship as a cover. A bit unusual, but potentially effective. If it was the usual slaver riffraff, it was a matter of figuring out how it happened.
I packaged all the info I had and sent it to Gee, disguised as a "network backup" for anyone sniffing. Kasumi did seem to keep a keen eye on my omni-tool as I did, and she gave me a tight grin when we made eye contact. Tease, tease, tease.
"Are we moving and collecting info as we go, or waiting until we have more?" I said.
"It's probably best to wait," Keiji said. "Flying in blind and getting in over our heads won't help anyone. Haste is a bad companion for this kind of work."
"What about your friend?"
"He's fine," Kasumi said. "He's very good at keeping out of sight."
"Wait, he's not a prisoner?"
"Nope," Kasumi said. "Well, somehow. He can't get away, but he's free in there to do as he pleases as long as they don't spot him."
"... huh. Did you go to the same school of undetectable people?" I said.
Kasumi gave out a sudden laughter, covering her mouth as she laughed with a surprisingly demure demeanor. Keiji looked at her and chuckled lightly, then took his drink and had a big gulp of his beer.
"Not quite," he said. "But better not to discuss this in the open like this."
"Right."
As we talked, the door to our private room opened, and someone walked in. A pot was put in the middle of the table on the heater, filled with a bunch of mushrooms, some kind of square cakes, what looked to be boiled eggs, all swimming in a light brown broth. Bowls, spoons, chopsticks, the whole kit. Four sets. Wait, what? Then I realized it was an asari carrying the stuff. And when I looked up, a nonsensical noise of surprise escaped me before I could even react.
"Fancy meeting you here," Tela said, a tight smile on her face.
"Tela! What a surprise, it's so good to see you!" Kasumi said. I had been around Kasumi for a while, and I thought I recognize that tone of voice. That wasn't happiness, not really. "What brings you here?"
"Oh just keeping an eye out," the asari said, seating herself at the table, next to me, opposite of Keiji and Kasumi. "Little bird told me Roy here had gotten inside the Citadel, very quietly."
"Told you to follow procedure," Keiji said, his voice also forcefully playful, addressing me but not breaking eye contact with Tela.
"So what does bring the three of you together? Nothing to do with our previous job I hope."
I blinked. Neither Keiji nor Kasumi did, but I blinked at that. Did Tela just... ask about the Collectors? And, by extension, the reapers? She had that way of doing things, that air of self-assurance and lack of interest that seemed common to so many powerful asari. In a way similar to Aria, as well as far as I could tell given how little I had interacted with her, but while she had that dangerous edge to her, it wasn't as... jagged, so to speak. Kasumi was playful down to the bone. Tela, not so much.
"We just wanted to catch up with Roy and have a nice meal together," Kasumi said.
"Roy doesn't do meals," Tela replied.
"I know, I was hoping to be the one to break that silly superstition of his."
"Too late," Tela replied with another smile.
"Rescue mission," I said, interrupting the exchange and garnering everyone's attention. "A friend of Kasumi was aboard a luxury asari cruiser, went off the map. We're thinking kidnapping."
"Oh?" Tela said, her simle melting into a more neutral expression. She looked around, saw the look that Kasumi was giving me, and made a point to look at the table. "Ah, no soy sauce. I'll be right back, let me go find some."
As soon as she was out of the room, Kasumi raised her hands, mouth open and clearly mouthing what the hell. I waved her down while trying to put my thoughts in order.
"Tela and I had a... heart to heart, I guess you could call it. After the hoopla we had together. I was hoping she'd be on board with doing something about the reapers, since it looks like nobody is taking it seriously."
It was true. After our talk right after the Collector mission, she had barely contacted the Broker's network for anything. Two requests had gone through, and two requests had been granted with no questions asked. I have asked Gee to give her some space. He had objected at first, Tela was far too valuable an asset to risk losing, the probability of which had increased markedly after giving up the insurance file, but he had come around to the idea of giving her a bit of time. If she agreed out of her own volition after all that, she would be far more valuable than someone being coerced to comply.
Still wasn't getting too far with the moral argument. Markedly because I was mum about the rest of the unsavory things the Broker did on a day to day basis. It was hard to justify a moral high ground with no other explanation when in the same breath I would approve of the exact opposite on very similar situations. But a certain degree of hypocrisy is something organics sometimes have to deal with.
"... and?" Kasumi prompted, breaking my mental recap.
"And I hadn't heard from her in months. She basically told me she had to think about it."
"All right. So..."
"So maybe this is her way of telling me she's on board."
"Roy, we can't bring a Spectre with us!" Kasumi said.
"Why not? Kidnapping, asari luxury liner, seems... I don't know, perfectly normal? Good?"
"But- you really haven't figured out who it is we're talking about?"
"No?" I looked at her, at Keiji, and Kasumi started making some sort of pantomime. Mouthing what seemed to be just two words. Letters. Something. She got more and more frustrated, until she finally grabbed my hand, and ran her finger over the back of my hand tracing two letters, one at a time. A. I. Artificial Intelligence? But what-
"Ooooh," I finally said.
"Yeah, OoOoOh," Kasumi replied. "Seriously!"
"She... I..." I rubbed my forehead. "Look, I think it'll be fine."
"You think?!" Kasumi replied. "Roy!"
"She doesn't need to know, okay? And if she sees it, then we can manage. Just- Just trust me, please."
She looked at me for a moment, then leaned forward, her head in her hands. She let out a low, mournful whyyyyyy, while Keiji put his hand on her back and rubbed it gently.
"You sure about this?" Keiji said.
"I hope so. If she's really doing this because she's thought about it."
"Bit of a coincidence, don't you think?" Keiji said.
"Yeah, but I'm sure you can appreciate a dramatic gesture," I replied. "So?"
Keiji looked at Kasumi, who hadn't changed posture, while still rubbing her back. After a bit, Kasumi finally nodded, looking up and sitting back.
"All right Tela," she called out loud, "you can come in now."
We waited, but there was no response. I looked at the door, then at Kasumi and Keiji. "She wasn't listening?"
"Or she was pretending," Kasumi replied.
"Let me go get her."
"Roy," Kasumi called before I opened the door. I looked back at her. "You shouldn't be so trusting."
"I have to be," I replied. "Shit's hitting the fan soon, I have to take some risks."
I left the room and found Tela waiting at the front of the restaurant, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, right next to the waiters' station. She looked at me as I emerged, and a fain smile appeared on her face.
"Did you find the soy sauce?" I said, trying my best to return the smile.
She looked down next to her and picked up one of the small bottles. "Well, look at that. Here it was."
As it turns out, having a Spectre help you dig for information is extremely helpful. She didn't even have to do it herself, she just sent several requests to the central office and had someone else do it for her. The details interested her. Attacks out in the traverse were common, but it always looked good in the reports to take initiative and do something about them. More importantly, a cruiser full of rich asari could potentially mean favors in the bank if the right one is rescued, something a Spectre always likes to have.
And meanwhile, we had a nice meal. Well, mostly. It took me several tries again to eat something, I had been living on bars and protein paste most of the time since the gene mods hit me, and being in front of real, and delicious smelling food, brought back a whole heap of bad memories. Luckily, there was a good one, too, so that helped. So I waited, tried a few times, eventually took a bite, and almost immediately Tela's omni-tool pinged with an incoming message.
I almost choked on my food. While Kasumi tapped my back as I coughed, Tela read the message and informed us that they had found something. So, technically, good news, or so she argued. All three of them stayed put and wouldn't go anywhere until I finished my bowl of stew. Honestly, it was pretty nice once I had time to think about it.
But that was then, and now it was time to move. Comparing notes with the Spectre database we figured out a very likely prospect. A group f slavers which operated in the Traverse. Mostly batarians, but not exclusively, although it wasn't clear whether the non-batarians were part of the group or mercenaries they hired on occasion. But the location of their base was known, and there was even some information about what was there. Armed with that, we all filed for it aboard Tela's ship. Kasumi was unsure about it - or, rather, her - and didn't seem to hide it. Tela clearly noticed but didn't seem to want to do anything about it, and looked like she rather enjoyed it. Keiji and I were stuck in the middle. Good times.
At least Tela's ship was comfy as hell. A bit tight for four people, but it looked like a millionaire's luxury pad in Vegas or something like that. though most of the time we were just observing from a very safe distance and preparing our plan.
"I'm getting another transmission," Tela said. "Your friend."
"Put it through, what does he have?" Kasumi said, coming to the front of the ship.
"Give me a moment... Oh this is useful," Tela said. She worked her terminal for a bit, and the 3D projection of the slaver base was updated. Now it had a lot of details from the interior. "Now we can see more of it."
"Told you he'd come through," Kasumi said. "Let's see."
There was a lot of information on the map now, not just the structure. Systems, inhabitants, everything. It was a low gravity rock in the middle of a boring as hell system, no atmosphere or any kind of geological activity. Kinda glad it wasn't some hell planet, or I'd have been the designated decoy in my envirosuit.
"What the..." Keiji muttered, bringing up one of the markers. A whole heap of text appeared on the overlay, and as he read it, his smile kept getting wider and wider. "Oh no, no, no, they didn't."
"What?"
"They haven't upgraded their system. There's so many holes. Oh my, the generators are controlled through their mainframe." He sounded more and more like a kid in a candy store.
"We don't want to blow them up, just rescue the prisoners," Tela said.
"I know my stuff," Keiji said. "There's so many ways to get in!"
"What do you think Tela?" Kasumi said. "Think you can break into the systems too?"
"This one? A baby can get into this system," she replied.
There was a pause. Nobody said a thing for a moment, then all three of them turned to look at me.
"I am tech impaired," I said flatly. They exchanged looks. "Let me guess, I'm the decoy again."
"You're not the decoy," Kasumi said.
"But it does help if there are less people visible than there are actually attacking," Tela added.
"So, a decoy," I said.
"Consider yourself the executing hand of our long arm," Keiji said, and slapped me on the shoulder. Oh joy.
"Roy, we're in position," Kasumi called through the comms.
"All right, I'm by the door. If they have any video I'm screwed, I'm not exactly hidden."
"Don't worry, they have no video."
"Technically they do," Tela said, "they're just watching a re-run of Fleet and Flotilla."
I had to thought about that one for a second. I thought I had heard that before. Was that some kind of in-joke people who hacked systems for a living did every time they screwed with someone's surveillance system?
"I can top that," Kasumi said. "I'm about to open the door, wait until the signal and move in when I do."
"What's the signal?"
"You'll know," Kasumi replied.
I waited. It wasn't long before the door opened, covered with a thick kinetic curtain. I waited for the signal, and it came about a minute later. Through the comms. And through the PA comms all through the base, it seemed.
Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls
I recognized the song immediately, and would have cracked up laughing if I wasn't rushing through a kinetic curtain by myself towards an unknown number of enemies. An SMG in each hand, I rushed in and started shooting as soon as I spotted enemies. I wasn't sure whose combat sensors I was running on, but there were a lot of markers telling me where everyone was, and they were all hostile. I sprayed in all directions as I ran, and came to a crouching stop as soon as the return fire started. They were yelling all kinds of obscenities, and yelling because the music outside was loud.
That seemed to piss them off the most, which was quite amusing.
"Hold on, give them another spray," Keiji called.
I scooted behind cover and came up, spraying left, right, and center, only taking a fraction of a second to eject spent heatsinks. My shields took a beating, and I dove when I was less than a quarter up. One of the batarians yelled to push, fire kept raining on my position, and a moment later there was a high pitched whine which grew louder and louder until it broke with a resounding boom, and the entirety of the room was engulfed in fire. Screams of pain were mixed with calls for help, all while the attacks against my position seemed to stop. My envirosuit was blinking a warning, level 3 heat hazard. I had minutes to get out of there.
"Go get 'em!" Keiji called through the comms.
Clipping one of the SMGs to my back, I unfolded the other and cranked up the ammo power. Brace against my shoulder I pushed out and started firing. Some of the batarians tried to fight back, others were desperately trying to get past the now closed doors at the back, and others yet... well, I was mostly putting them out of their misery. It wasn't long before I was the only one standing in that room. And a moment later, the fire suppression systems kicked in, dousing the entirety of the room with soapy foam. I heard the hiss as it hit the scolding hot surface of my suit, and took a moment to let it run over me.
"Love the envirosuit, by the way," Keiji said.
"You two are such a great match," Kasumi added.
I looked around and shook my head in a mix of amusement and bewilderment. "Some people just want to see the world burn, I suppose," I said.
"You better move, there's more coming up the lifts, and they are going for the prisoners," Tela called, pushing us towards the task at hand. "I'm keeping them out for the moment, but I can't stop them from cutting physically through the security doors."
"What about the hangar?" I said. I was running down the corridor at full speed, keeping the single SMG in my hands.
"That one they won't be opening at all, they don't have anything in their arsenal that can cut through the hangar blast door."
The lifts were coming up, two semicircular doors which seemed to indicate a cylindrical structure behind. I hit the release on a door to my left with my elbow, quickly checked the room for hostiles and, finding it empty, set myself in cover behind the threshold, aiming for the lifts.
"The one on the left will open first, I'm delaying the other one," Kasumi said.
"Copy that."
I settled down and tried to focus. Gene mods. Normally I'd have hit a stim now and pushed. But my breath came back faster, and my legs carried me a lot better. Should've taken them a long time ago, but then again, I hadn't had a chance when I first arrived to the ME universe. The stupid AI - blessedly silent, which to this day still worried me - could've dumped me a bit earlier and given me some warnings.
The lift door opened, and I pressed on the trigger, the SMG spitting heavy rounds and digging against my shoulder. The batarians shot back as they tried to get out, and as my shields depleted, the lift suddenly plummeted out of view, to the surprised screams of the two still inside. I walked out and kept firing, taking one of the survivors down. The second one tripped on the corpse of the batarian that had been cut in half by the falling lift, and fell back and down the now empty shaft.
Looking at the gory mess, I actually had to hold back a retch.
"Hang on I've blocked the other lift," Kasumi said. "I'm sending this one back. It'll be a bit messy."
There was an ungodly screeching sound coming from the opening, and I made my way towards the shaft. I pushed the bisected body aside with my boot, and glanced down. The lift was now coming up fast, and the dead batarian was still on top.
"Oh god," I muttered, looking at the approaching mess.
"Shit!" Tela called over the comms. "They're trying to kill the prisoners, I'm moving in."
"Wait, what?"
"Head to the bottom, quick! The two K's, get him there. Move it!"
As she spoke, the sound of automatic gunfire came through the comms. I was expecting some protests from Kasumi, and probably even Keiji, but neither of them said a thing against it. Keiji started calling all the systems he was going through and all the changes he was making, while Kasumi seemed to focus exclusively on me.
"The lift should be safe enough, I'm sending you down to the bottom." Kasumi said.
"I'm on it."
The lift arrived and there were two mangled corpses of batarians laying on the ground. Must have been a hell of a landing. I stepped in, and without even knowing what was gong on, the lift was on its way.
"I'll meet you down there but I'll be a few minutes," Kasumi said.
"Copy that. Tela, what's happening?"
The sound of battle was pretty fierce, and Tela sounded harried. "Any time now!" she replied.
Shit. I flipped the SMG to its compact spray-and-pray mode and pulled the other one, taking a moment to hit a stim. It sounded like I was about to step into something big, and I wanted to be prepared for anything. I could feel the lift pushing downwards fast, that feeling in the top of my stomach that was almost like falling. I sent a very quick prayer that Kasumi hadn't forgotten to turn the crush-landing mode off, and prepared to bolt.
The lift decelerated fast, pushing me down but not breaking my legs, thankfully, and the door opened to a scene of absolute chaos. I knew what I was in for from the 3D map of the facility, but it was quite different to see it live. It was a wide circular space, at least fifty feet in diameter. Two doors on the opposite side of the lifts which I knew led towards the prisoner cages. A large one on the left which led to the hangar, which Tela had used to come in. And then there was me. Tela was in cover close to the door to the prisoners. On the opposite side, and their backs towards the lifts, were the batarians.
All of the batarians.
And I had just popped behind them.
"Get 'em!" Kasumi called, just as music, once again, overtook the sounds of battle and damn near blew the speakers of the PA.
Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction
I stepped out of the lift while the batarians continued to rain fire on Tela's position. Tela herself was darting from side to side, firing back but having a problem with the numbers. Biotics, even powerful biotics, will only take you so far before you need a break. And right now, I was in the perfect position to give Tela that break. I raised both guns, and didn't feel one bit bad when I started unloading on the backs of all the batarians looking away from me. It took them a few moments to realize someone had come out of the lift and was now shooting at them. I kept peppering both sides as I rushed towards cover, heatsinks flying with an easy flick of my thumb every time I needed a fresh one. Yells rose over the music, and I landed in cover not far from the lift with only a sliver of shield left.
"Keep it coming!" Tela yelled, not even bothering with the comms.
I put both hands over the lip of my cover and fired blindly towards the flanks with both guns. I wasn't sure if it was doing much, but I didn't have enough shields to do more than that. The return fire suddenly intensified, and I had to stop firing to dig in deep. Just wait for-
Don't dig in, move!
Ashley's training came through loud and clear. digging into cover was a sure way of getting killed. You have to move. You have to stay mobile. It was the thought that probably saved my life when a shimmer of a stealth net caught my eye coming straight towards me at full speed. I hesitated for only a moment, and opened fire as I rolled out of the way. There was a clash of hardsuit against hardsuit, and guns went clattering left and right. I pushed the heavy body off me and rolled to come up to a crouch, and a moment later the flare of pain hit me on the side. The figure was out of stealth now, a corpulent batarian wielding some kind of knife in his hand, tinted with blood. Probably mine.
Stims and medi-gel hit my systes immediately. I braced for the pain and shot to my feet, reaching back and pulling both pistols to fire at him. He closed in, taking bullets to his barriers and making another swipe. As I backpedaled, I hit something and almost fell on my butt, instead rolling away. That gave the batarian a window to get to me, and as I tried to get up to my feet, the batarian crashed on me, and pain hit me again, this time on the right side. I gritted my teeth as I felt the knife scratch against my rib, staying awake only thanks to the stims. Helmet impacted with helmet as I headbutted him, over and over while trying to hold his arms pinned with my own. The world started to spin a bit, then the struggle finished when a loud report preceded Kasumi appearing right next to me and shooting the batarian point blank.
"Some cover!" Kasumi yelled, dragging me with surprising ease behind cover. "Roy! Talk to me!"
"Ugh, medi-gel..." I muttered. I was trying to say that I already had medi-gel in me, but Kasumi instead took it as her cue to inject right through the cut in my suit and give me a full load of medi-gel AND stims.
I thought my heart was going to explode.
"Oh crap, oh shit, oh bollocks," Kasumi said, holding me down. "Could use some help!"
For a moment all I knew was pain. Kasumi dug in my wound and I felt a cold sensation in the wound. As my heart slowed, the pain resumed. So. Much. Pain. I was vaguely aware of Kasumi apologizing for something, a series of explosions, and more shooting. By the by everything seemed to calm down. Pain seemed to slowly recede, the fighting died down, and Kasumi's face became clearer in my eyes.
"Fugg..." I muttered.
"Easy, easy, give it a minute," Kasumi said. "I thought you asked for medi-gel and stims, not that you already had had some!"
"The... ugh... the suit has medical..."
"Yeah, now I know it. Next time tell me earlier, okay?" Kasumi said, her hands still over my chest as my shallow breathing started to slow down.
After a while she helped prop me up to a sitting position so I could see what was going on. A few batarians on their knees with hands over their heads. A few asari I hadn't seen before, but who I surmised had to be some of the prisoners, were guarding them, guns in hand. Tela was going around talking to people. And Keiji was working on one of the terminals on the far end of the large room.
"Is it over?"
"Well, a few of them are trapped in the higher levels. Not going to be pretty when we leave," Kasumi said.
"There will be no survivors," a harsh, synthetic voice replied talking from her omni-tool.
"Yeah, that," Kasumi said. "Took you long enough to jump back."
"I had to ensure the safe retrieval of my crew," the AI said.
"Ugh... Your... crew?" I muttered.
"My crew. The adoring asari who look over my hull and ensure the perfect function of my circuits."
"...what?" I said.
"He wanted to leave the Citadel and go see the Galaxy, so we found him a nice ship for him to do just that," Kasumi said.
"Did they know?"
"Not at the time. Now they will, and they better be grateful," the AI said.
"That sounded ominous," I said.
"He always does," Kasumi replied. "Watch this. Hey, what's my favourite food?"
"Chocolate. Muffins," the AI replied, and for a moment I thought that it sounded like he made a deliberate effort to make it sound extra ominous.
Entry 67:
Our efforts on memory reconstruction have continued for the last three weeks. I am confident that we have created a cohesive narrative structure for memory stimulation going back as far as the initial Spectre candidacy events, but further events are still patchy. It is unclear whether they would be necessary.
The Cybernetics team looking into the Collector implants have not made much progress. I haven't gotten a firm estimate from them, but their most optimistic timeline before we are capable of modifying the internal programming.
I have started to receive scattered reports of possible Collector activity. No concrete evidence in any of them, which might indicate we are seeing that which we are wanting to see, more than what really is there. Regardless, our timeline is becoming tighter.
Miranda Lawson signing off.
Author's Notes: All right, this was a bit longer than I expected, mostly due to Tela's surprise visit. She has been put in the bus for a bit, because she had a lot to think about. But it might or might not be the case that she's on board with the whole thing. As I said, with the timeline bearing down, one has to take some risks.
So, who figured out that it was the AI who had been taken prisoner? I mean, the clue about adoring asari looking after his circuits was a clue, wasn't it? And yeah, why wouldn't Kasumi go give a hand? After all, that AI helped her through the Battle of the Citadel - grumpy as he sounded at the time!
Also, have you ever loitered around when recruiting Kasumi instead of doing it straight away? She does make several advertisements before starting to get testy, it's pretty funny :D
Anyway, as usual, if you want to support me and my works, you can do so here:
tinyurl (period) com (slash) y2q9cop6
(Still think FFnet sucks at hyperlinks).
Reviews time! Last chapter got good feedback, hope this one delivered!
maesde:Yeah, Citadel DLC was pure fan service really, lots of one liners and such but not exactly substance. I consider it mostly gravy, no steak :D
RIOSHO: Yup! Shepard didn't know that, and there was no need to show it haha!
BJ Hanssen: Forget? Oh my friend, take a trip down memory lane, re-read chapter one, and think about the timeline :)
Rainsfere: Thanks! Yeah, Gee is still being very efficient and Roy, have to admit, is a little afraid of messing up. As far as Shepard and the Collector tech, it's going to be touch and go till the last minute. I won't hang for too long about it, it'll be clear by the time ME2 rolls in. I'm planning on touching the Terminus Systems and Omega soon as well, that should be fun :)
Surprise Crayfish, RegiDelta, SpecterXCove, thanks for the support!
Next time, on My Effect: Convergence! The bits and bobs from across the galaxy that were too big to fit in this chapter! Till then, thanks for reading!